Union takes aim at school planning

THE provincial education department has not planned properly to deal with rising pupil numbers, South African Democratic Teachers’ Union provincial secretary Jonavon Rustin says.

This came as the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said it had built 18 more classrooms over the past three years and added 317 mobile classrooms at schools.

At the start of the academic year there were 11 000 unplaced pupils, and last month the figure stood at 4 880. Last year, 17 000 children in the province were not placed at schools at the start of the year. Areas such as the Cape Flats battle with placement every year.

WCED spokesperson Millicent Merton said 18 of 24 schools planned for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework period had been built. Five were under construction and the sixth was held up by tender challenges.

Rustin said the department should have a plan that monitored migration and urban development patterns to address overcrowding.

“The WCED has not tabled such a plan over the years, or consulted us. The department must do an analysis of trends and that will address needs.”

In 2015, the WCED said it had updated its User Asset Management Plan to meet fluctuations in demand for the next three-year period.