Eastern Cape Education MEC, Fundile Gade, hosted a media briefing at the Mandla Makupula Leadership Institute in East London, last week, where he outlined the state of readiness for the 2022 academic year.
Gade said the department had huge backlogs in terms of providing classrooms to schools and this had been exacerbated by the need to comply with COVID-19 social distancing implications and the phenomenon of underutilised schools on one hand and overcrowded schools on the other.
Gade said, however, the department had completed building six schools: Inyibiba Primary School in Buffalo City, Dinizulu Senior Secondary, Mfesane Senior Secondary in Nelson Mandela Bay, Ntsizwa Senior Secondary, Themba Mzizi Primary and Mpuqe Extension Primary in OR Tambo Inland.
He said these were completed in 2021.
The department is on track to complete a further 10 schools by year end, which would provide the necessary teaching and learning facilities.
“Further to this, 167 classrooms have been delivered since March 2021 with a further 240 modular classrooms being in the procurement processes for scheduled completion by the end of quarter one in 2022/23. The department was also dealing with 95 schools which had reported storm damages in 10 of its districts.
“To assist schools with water provisions, the department is participating in an Amatola Water Board tender that was closed on November 19, 2021, for the provision of water tank trucks to supply water to various schools within the Eastern Cape on an ad hoc basis for a period of three years,” said Gade.
He added that any school requiring water carting would be provided with water through this contract, using water tankers from within the local municipalities.
According to Gade, the department was also in the process of appointing contractors for the installation of a minimum of two water tanks and guttering to 300 identified schools in the province by the end of March this year.
“The department has a huge backlog on sanitation, related to ablution facilities at schools that the department is currently attending to through various interventions.
“The SAFE programme has continued steadily in implementation by DBE and 1 048 schools have been allocated to date; 237 schools have been completed and 274 are currently under construction,” Gade said.
