Article on schools gives wrong idea
I REFER to your article “Primary school on brink of collapse” of February 14. The Department of Public Works is busy investigating the state of the school and I am awaiting their report from an engineer. But I need to point out a fundamental misrepresentation in your article.
Your reporter incorrectly created the impression that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) underspent on the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) by R830million.
This figure in fact refers to underspending on the entire ASIDI programme nationally. The WCED did not underspend on its ASIDI budget at all. In fact, we were once again given additional funding for infrastructure as part of the Education Infrastructure Grant because of our good infrastructure planning.
The ASIDI programme was introduced in 2011/12 to replace schools built with inappropriate materials across the country and is driven by the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Twenty five chools in the Western Cape were identified to participate in the programme.
We applied for ASIDI funding for remedial work to three schools in 2016/17. Work was programmed to start in May 2016, while the money was only allocated in October 2016. Approximately R30m will rollover and will be spent by May 2017.
The Western Cape built 120 schools during the period 2009/10 to 2016/17. The WCED funded 95 of these schools, while the national ASIDI programme funded a further 25 schools. Four of the 25 schools are still under construction- almost all serve poor communities.
Maintenance of our schools is a top priority. The WCED surveyed all schools in 2014 and identified 499 schools that need upgrading. The WCED embarked on a programme to upgrade schools, starting with 50 schools in 2015, and 60 schools in 2016.
We plan to increase the number to 100 schools a year, budget permitting. We have increased our budget for maintenance by more than 50% over the past three years, despite budgetary constraints.
The WCED also needs support from communities to assist with preventing vandalism and burglaries at schools, promoting ownership and pride in our schools.
DEBBIE SCHÄFER Western Cape Education MEC