Protect our schools – MEC

AN OVERSIGHT visit, conducted by Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant, at the PC Petersen Primary School in Kylemore, follows the recent reports and complaints of overcrowding and a lack of teachers in schools.

PC Petersen Primary, in the Winelands, is a replacement school. It is under construction and this is expected to be completed in September.

Grant said the 18-month project would provide much-needed relief to the existing school and would accommodate more pupils in a safe environment, conducive to teaching and learning.

The school would accommodate 620 pupils, adding to the 580 pupils already in the existing school, and would have the potential for future expansion. The school comprises 16 classrooms, a science laboratory, a multimedia and multi-purpose classroom, a hall and an administration block.

“In the past 10 years of this administration, we have spent R9 billion on school infrastructure and the construction of new and replacement schools,” Grant said.

Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said the department invested “heavily” in school infrastructure to improve the quality of schools and meet the schooling demands in the province.

“The delivery of quality education is critical to the future prospects of our learners,” Schäfer said.

She appealed to the school governing bodies and the community to protect the school, “as there is no point in investing in building these beautiful new schools if we are not going to work together to protect them”.

Schäfer added: “Schools are community assets and, just as we joined forces to build this wonderful school, we need the communities to join forces to protect the school.”