Matome Chiloane, MEC for Education in Gauteng, says the department is focusing on preparing school infrastructure for the new school year, which begins tomorrow.
The MEC said that as part of the return to school campaign, the department would formally launch the school year at the newly constructed Mapenane Secondary School in Garankuwa with Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
Members of Gauteng’s executive council will also visit schools to verify that students and instructors arrive on time and with the necessary learning and teaching resources.
“What we have done during the last academic year as well as during the holiday, is to maintain or fix a number of schools…the numbers are at 488 schools and that is continuing in terms of maintenance of schools.
“Because there’s an interlink in terms of building schools…we have a self-built programme and in that programme we are looking to build 878 classrooms to assist us to deal with placement so we have given that to 297 schools,” he said on Tuesday.
The MEC said that continuing vandalism at schools is a point of worry for the department.
He reported that vandalism has hit 120 schools since the start of the 2022 academic year, with 24 schools vandalised over the December holiday period.
“This is becoming a bottomless bucket. When we fix a school, set up infrastructure, set in resources for learners and educators to perform their duties, then you have criminals who come and disrupt.
“In most cases, these criminals stay in our communities. We continue to appeal to communities to work with us to deal with the scourge of vandalism. It’s really reversing the good work that we are doing as a department, community and as a country,” he said.
In terms of water and sanitation activities, Chiloane said that the department has identified and is addressing locations where there are water supply issues.
“We are providing water tankers to provide water in those areas. And here we are also appealing to communities to help us…to allow those that have been given an opportunity to go and deliver this water to our children to allow them to do so uninterrupted,” he said.
Twenty emergency sanitation units have also been delivered to address school shortages.
Chiloane urged non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations that would launch back-to-school campaigns on Wednesday not to disturb teaching and learning process.
“If you have agreed with the schools to come in the morning to motivate and support our learners and educators, we don’t have a problem as long as you have been authorised to do that.
“Education is big and requires all of us to have our hands on deck and we don’t mind that as long as you don’t disrupt learning and teaching,” he said.