Mega-school projects are a ‘big rural plus’
Mega-school infrastructure projects being rolled out by the Eastern Cape department of education in the province’s rural areas are laying the foundation for rural socioeconomic development.
Eastern Cape matric results exhibit a worrying trend of urban-rural inequality. It seems pupils from urban areas have a better chance of passing compared to their peers in rural areas.
The department is responding well to this unjust reality by attempting to level the learning experience for all pupils. Historically, the Eastern Cape is a goose that lays golden eggs.
The province gave birth to national leaders and nearly all of them grew up in rural areas. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Oliver Reginald Tambo, Martin Thembisile “Chris” Hani, the Rev Makhenkesi Stofile, Dr Alfred Bitini Xuma and Dr Mxolisi Lionel Majombozi are among the outstanding luminaries of this province.
The Eastern Cape department of education’s focus on building fully equipped schools in rural areas is a winning formula that will bring the next generation of leaders to take the country forward.
State-of-the-art learning equipment in schools will enhance the quality of the learning experience and overall quality of education. Pupils from the rural areas come from economically disadvantaged families and have no access to the latest learning technologies.
Provision of the latest technologies will go a long way to improving their academic performance. In adherence to the school infrastructure norms and standards, the schools are equipped with impressive ablution, sanitary and hygiene facilities.
These facilities have a major and lasting contribution to the standard of living of pupils from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The mega-school projects will set the tone for rural socioeconomic development and inspire all service delivery stakeholders to match their requirements.
Through its infrastructure stakeholder relations, the department must ensure that the schools are complemented by reliable healthcare, efficient service delivery, dependable safety and security, among other key public services.
These public services will have a huge knock-on effect on the community.
The community will benefit from the department of education’s lobbying of other government departments to bring public services.
Job creation is an immediate impact of these mega projects.
The jobs created are largely temporary but with the projects taking at least a year to complete, local communities would have benefited fairly well until completion. Rolling out of infrastructure as a job creator needs a concerted effort from the government.
Rural communities need to be systematically converted into construction sites.
To ensure continuity of jobs, provincial departments should master a coordinated approach that ensures that upon completion of one departmental project another department launches its own project
To prevent the schools from becoming white elephants, an all-round approach of development is needed from all stakeholders.
Upon completion of the schools and handover to communities, it must be reiterated that responsibility to safeguard and maintain school infrastructure is not entirely the prerogative of the department but a collective responsibility of the department, school governing bodies and the community at large.
There has been a disturbing spate of vandalism of school infrastructure that prompted the department to launch a quarter of a billion rand fencing programme to secure schools.
It is quite unfortunate that the department’s efforts to equip rural schools with the latest learning equipment and technologies has attracted criminals. Communities must assume responsibility to ensure security and safety of school infrastructure and equipment.
When required, communities should not hesitate to work with law enforcement authorities in rooting out culprits.
The provincial department allocates a substantial amount to the norms and standards budget administered by SGBs and further employs school general assistants to assist with maintenance of school infrastructure.
Communities must reciprocate these efforts from the department by ensuring that their communities have no space for criminals that target school infrastructure and equipment.
There is still a lot of work to do for the Eastern Cape department of education. The department has battled an infrastructure backlog for a while.It will be interesting to see if it will be able to sustain the momentum it is gaining.