THE North West education and sport development department said it will build new schools to cater for the needs of communities.

  This came after the department met the provincial legislature portfolio committee on education.

  The two entities met after the portfolio committee visited Maiketso Primary School in Morokweng village, outside Vryburg on Friday.

  Portfolio committee chairperson, Boitumelo Moiloa said that the committee will not approve the department’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) if the construction at Maiketso Primary and Ramotshodi Secondary schools were not part of their financial plans for this financial year.

  Moiloa said the department had to give a commitment as to what was going to happen with pupils at the schools.

  The committee, MEC Wendy Matsemela and senior management discussed serious infrastructural challenges found during an oversight visit at Maiketso primary and Ramotshodi secondary schools.

  Maiketso primary school was the only full-service school in the area. The school offers inclusive education and accommodates pupils with barriers in all grades.

  The school has 870 pupils and 26 teachers with an average class size of 50 pupils. However there were classes which have up to 68 pupils. The committee found out that there were 13 classrooms, but only three were conducive for teaching and learning as the rest were dilapidated.

  “It cannot be that we keep our own children in expensive schools whilst the children of the people who elected us are learning in an environment that is not conducive for teaching and learning. It is very unacceptable that almost half of the roof of the classrooms for pupils was blown away by the wind. This poses a serious danger to both pupils and teachers.

  “Service delivery on education by department is not only good for Grade 12 pass rate. The most important is what happens at lower grades and infrastructure. They also need to focus on the lower graders and infrastructure. We are not here to police the department, but to assist one another in providing services to our people,” Moiloa said.

  She said that is why they have taken a decision as a committee not to approve the APP of the department if two schools are not in their plans for building.

  Maiketso Primary School was built by the community in 1980. The buildings were not in good condition. Pupils used pit toilets and ablution facilities for pupils were not enough due to the numbers in the school.

  “The school needs a full-time remedial/learning support teacher to support pupils as not all teachers are trained in specialised areas. Many requests for interventions date from November 27 in 2007. The requests were made by the school to the department and nothing was done. The principal and SGB said they were then surprised by a contractor who allegedly told them that he was sent by the department to renovate the school,” Moiloa said.

  Chief Director for Auxiliary Services, Lebogang Tire explained that the renovation of the school was just a temporary measure. He said the department was planning to build them a school.

  Another school, Ramotshodi secondary school was built by the community of Moalogane in the 1990s. The school has a pupil enrolment of 229. The building was severely dilapidated and has serious cracks on the walls.

Moiloa said the window frames at Ramotshodi secondary school were also damaged. She further added that there were no doors and ceilings and pupils were taught in four worn-out, unstable and damaged mobile classes.

  “There are also two damaged classrooms used for both National Schools Nutrition Programme and teachers’ staff room. The principal’s mobile office was blown-away by strong winds ten minutes after he left the school premises in January 2016.

  “We felt that we must call MEC Wendy Matsemela the same evening to know whether the department will build a new school for pupils of Maiketso and Ramotshodi. We also wanted to know what will be the temporary measure to accommodate pupils whilst building,” she said.

  Moiloa said they wanted to know the department’s plan phases with a progress report and time-frame of building the two schools.  

  However MEC Wendy Matsemela promised that the schools will be built in the current financial year 2016/17.

  “The department has committed to do renovations which include replacing roofing and fix toilets, windows and doors as a temporary measure.  We have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Impala Platinum mine to build a new school at Ramotshodi secondary school and renovate mobile classes,” she said.

  Matsemela said they will also submit a comprehensive plan for addressing infrastructural challenges of schools in the province.

-TDN

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