Pretoria - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says significant progress has been made in the delivery of school infrastructure across the country.
Briefing the media on Sunday in Pretoria following a Council of Education Ministers (CEM) meeting held on Thursday, the Minister said basic services are being delivered to schools to restore the dignity of learners.
“We have set a target to deliver basic services to all our schools, as per the requirement of the minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure.
“The norms and standards are meant to ensure that we create a conducive environment for learning by ensuring that all schools have adequate structures and that they get basic services like electricity, water and sanitation,” said the Minister.
She said the department continues to unveil state-of-the-art schools every week, built or refurbished at a cost of between R35 million and R50 million.
These schools, said the Minister, have been built or refurbished as part of the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI), which was established to eradicate and replace schools built from inappropriate materials.
Since the programme’s inception, just over 170 schools out of a targeted 510 around the country (with 126 in the Eastern Cape) have been completed.
Minister Motshekga said a further 126 schools are at various stages of completion and 54 of these will be completed in the course of the 2016/17 financial year.
The ASIDI programme also includes a basic services component over and above the school building programme.
“To this end, an additional 615 schools have been provided with water, 418 with decent sanitation and 307 with electricity. This programme is ongoing,” said the Minister.
However, the Minister said the department is mindful of the fact that a lot still needs to be done ensure that the dignity of learners is restored. - SAnews.gov.za
