Officials visit schools in district

Covid compliance good, but infrastructure issues identified

Inadequate infrastructure in schools was one of the challenges pointed out by a member of the provincial legislature, Nonceba Khontsiwe, who was assigned to lead a delegation of education department officials during school visits in the Chris Hani West district this week.

Khontsiwe, who visited Thembelihle Primary School, said the legislature had embarked on school visits annually to assess readiness and identify challenges facing schools across the province.

“We are visiting schools according to the tradition of the provincial legislature that every January when schools open we check whether schools are ready for the opening, the delivery of learning and teaching support material and whether classes start on the right day,” Khontsiwe said.

The visits also entailed checking that Covid-19 regulations were being adhered to, including social distancing, sanitising and the wearing of masks, she said.

“We have come across a number of challenges and have realised that principals are not aware of where to go when they encounter a challenge.

”We have advised them to make use of circuit and district offices to resolve the problems.

”We have brought officials from head office, especially the infrastructure unit, to respond to challenges raised because there are always infrastructural problems.”

Khontsiwe said the visit, which started on Tuesday, would continue till next week.

Some of the schools visited this week were Maria Louw High School, Kwa Komani Comprehensive, Minah T Soga Senior Primary and Thembelihle Primary School.

She applauded the district for ensuring compliance with Covid-19 health protocols.

“We did not see any challenges in terms of Covid.”

Highlighting the water challenges confronted by the district municipality, Khontsiwe mentioned the availability of water tanks which were visible at some schools.

“Water tanks are there in case there is no water. That we have looked at.

”It is, however, a matter of increasing the number of water tanks in some areas and we have advised them to use money from the schools maintenance budget or request it from the district office because the district once bought many tanks for the schools, but apparently the schools did not apply for the required number.

”The district department then distributed these tanks to other schools in the villages.”

Khontsiwe added that the visits followed an identification process by the education department.

“The advice from the portfolio committee was that they must identify the best and worst performing schools, those with infrastructural challenges and those in good condition.

“We will not visit all schools. The pandemic is going to be here for a long time unless we change our behaviour and accept we are living in a new normal, therefore we must protect ourselves, sanitise often, and under no circumstances go without a mask, and maintain social distance,” she said.