Durban -The KwaZulu-Natal department of education says mobile classrooms will be provided to eMagcekeni Primary School in KwaNongoma, in the Zululand district.
The school is one of many in the province which have been historically disadvantaged. The department said it was committed to prioritising such schools which are located in the poorest communities, including multi-grade, multiphase, farm and rural schools.
It said one of the grave injustices it had inherited from the apartheid education system was poor educational infrastructure, adding: “This is evident in poorly constructed school buildings where learners are forced to receive their education under trees, as well as inappropriate building materials such as mud, and asbestos, etc. “
The department said in recognition of this unfortunate legacy and many others, it had resolved to replace mud schools and all other school buildings erected from inappropriate and substandard materials.
“We are not only addressing the issue of classrooms, but are also building administration blocks for school principals and management teams. In addition, we will also ensure to bring essential services such as water, electricity, and decent sanitation,” it added.
The department added that it was also providing schools with science and computer laboratories, as well as nutrition and media centres.
“We are pleased to state that we are permanently changing the landscape of this province by building state-of-the-art schools.”
The department said there were infrastructure issues at eMagcekeni and that the school only had 87 pupils.
“The school is non-viable, with only 87 learners and we had resolved to move these learners to the neighbouring Donguthule Primary School 2 km away, which has plenty of under-utilised classrooms, an intervention which they refused. In the meantime, our infrastructure unit is in the process of providing the school with mobile classrooms.”
It added that the department is aware that to overcome poverty, unemployment and inequality, investment must be made in the education of the nation.
“We are certain that as a result of improved infrastructure, and pro-poor interventions, a higher proportion of our children in our province are going to enjoy learning and being kids.”