By Kamogelo Moichela
As the 2022 Education calendar is about to end, the Mpumalanga Education Department has joined hands with the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport to work on the school infrastructure in Mbombela as a preparation for 2023.
MEC of Education Bonakele Majuba, Public Works MEC Mandla Ndlovu and the mayor of Mbombela Sibongile Makhushe took a tour on Tuesday of inspection to assess progress made with regard to the construction of the 40 classrooms in four Primary schools: Bergland Primary, Nelspruit Primary, Laerskool Laeveld and Nelspruit Laerskool.
The department wants to alleviate admission challenges with the Mbombela Local Municipality.
In his remarks Majuba requested stakeholders to work together to ensure that the process of unlocking the admission challenges is fast-tracked and treated as an emergency for the sake of the development of the people of the city.
“We thought it is imperative that we meet today to monitor progress as it relates to the construction of the 40 additional classrooms in Mbombela as we plan for the 2023 school year.
“Mbombela, unlike other towns, is fast growing understandably so as it is the Capital City, host for the Government Complex, the Provincial High Court, University of Mpumalanga and it is a gateway to almost all the tourist attractions including the Kruger National Airport, Tourism Agencies and so on.
“It is for this reason that there will always be an influx of people to this side of the province for economic opportunities," he said.
He said the department received a pile of applications every year from parents who sought space at schools in the city as most of them reside and work there.
He mentioned that the reason behind the motive is that parents prefer their children to school in the city since they are of the view that the schools are better resourced and good performing academically.
“Our mandate is to find ways and means to accommodate all of them within the constraints of resources at our disposal.
This admission challenge is exacerbated as some parents who are staying in the surrounding townships or villages who are working in town prefer that their children attend school in town to guarantee their children's security.
“As they come to work they bring their children along, drop them at the nearest school, collect them during their lunchtime, make sure that they do their homework thereafter and drive back home in the afternoon,” the MEC said.
Furthermore, he indicated the 40 additional classrooms would ease and eliminate the challenges of admission in primary schools.
“We are aware though that in some cases the new additional classrooms will be replacing the unwanted asbestos structures,” he added.
Majuba highlighted that some schools have converted halls, and recreational facilities such as lapas to accommodate learners and “these schools are of the opinion that they will be in a position to free those facilities for their intended purposes now that there are new classrooms at their disposal”.
He stated this posed a challenge that would require efforts to be done by the circuit manager working with principals because the waiting lists of pupils who are yet to be admitted are still long.
“The other challenge, executive mayor is that as of now there are no available sites for schools in town that can be considered to build new fully-fledged schools.
“The department has in its plans the establishment and construction of Mbombela City Primary and Mbombela City Secondary Schools, however, these plans cannot kick off the ground because there are no allocated sites,” he said.
He further requested the municipality to advise the department in the regard considering the reasons they have advanced earlier to find a workable solution to this matter so that they can serve the people of the city much better.
“The lack of new schools is the reason why we decided that the primary schools should add more classrooms at times against the Departmental Norms and Standards simply to ensure that the department is in a position to accommodate more learners.
“For the reason that the department could not admit some of the deserving learners in schools within the town, some parents opted to register their children with nearby independent schools.
“Most of these parents are now finding it very hard to cope with payment arrangements in these schools and they are now reverting back to the public schooling system,” he said.
He pleaded with the school principals and school governing bodies to appreciate the constraints, demands, and limitations and work with the department to address the challenges they face.
“We must soldier on to provide solutions irrespective of the misfortunes we find ourselves in.
“Now that some classes are likely to be ready for use next year.
“The department must be in a position to assist with furniture, revise the post establishments to ensure that schools get adequate teachers, revise paper budgets and also assist with additional learner and teacher support material,” he said.
IOL