Soshanguve kids get new school

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Pretoria - A new school has been opened in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, to ease the overcrowding in nearby schools.

The Gauteng Department of Education officially opened the Soshanguve South Secondary School on Thursday.

Acting Principal Ntata Kekena said the school would help ease the overcrowding in schools in the area and learners would not have to travel long distances to school.

"The school is beautiful and there is a lot of space," Mr Kekana said.

The school, which includes Grades 8 to 12, started operating in January and already has 755 registered learners and 23 teachers. The school also boasts a computer laboratory.

David Masimola, 16, a Grade 9 learner at the school, told BuaNews that the school had renewed his love for education. "I now look forward to one day studying and pursuing a career in engineering," he said.

The new school forms part of the department's School Building Programme initiated by MEC for Education Angie Motshekga in 2006 to address the shortage of schools and make education more accessible to all citizens of Gauteng.

Schools have also been handed over are the newly built Soshanguve South Secondary School, Pretoria Inner City School and Hammanskraal Primary School.

"As the department we made a commitment to respond to the ever growing demands of the socio-economic needs of the people of Gauteng - quality of education being one of them," says MEC Motshekga at the opening.

Over the last week the department has also opened the Diepsloot West Secondary School and Vlakfontein Secondary School and the Chief Luthuli Secondary School will be opened next week.