The Eastern Cape Education MEC, Fundile Gade, held a media briefing with about 981 school principals and other stakeholders from the Sarah Baartman, Amatole West and Nelson Mandela Bay districts, to discuss school safety challenges in the province.
According to the MEC, most of the province’s public schools are situated in the underprivileged peripheral areas and he said that as a result of government’s shortcomings, especially in Eastern Cape, the education department finds itself cornered to a level of thinking that they’re the department of infrastructure and development.
“This meeting should be prioritised because it ushers us to a moment of identity. For the longest time, we have not discussed matters of education, precisely due to the fact that we have been overwhelmed by matters that must supplement education, such as infrastructure and safety,” Gade said.
He highlighted the complexities of school safety and poor infrastructure issues and how abstract they may seem to an ordinary citizen. Addressing the backlog of schools with poor infrastructure – which compromise the safety of learners and teachers – the MEC said that even if all 5 000 public schools in the province were built, it will all be in vain if the learners do not pass.
“Building the walls of a school, does not automatically translate into a school. A school is what is happening inside the walls,” he said.
The department took a decision to prioritise the Nelson Mandela Metro Bay (NMMB) district in all intervention programmes and various awareness campaigns in the highly affected areas. For example, the department rolled out an awareness campaign on child trafficking reaching 1 647 learners in the area.
According to the Provincial Education Department, Nelson Mandela Metro has also benefitted in the delivery and provisioning of 56 infrastructure projects which include eight new/replacement schools since 2019 to date at a total cost of R483.7 million.
They are:
- M James Ndulula Primary School at a cost of R43,631,351 million
- Jubilee Park Primary School at R91.8 million
- Mfesane Senior Secondary School at R86,968,161
- Mjuleni Primary School valued at R12.29 million
- Nkululeko Primary School valued at R94.2 million
- Nomathamsanqa Primary School valued at R11.5 million
- Noninzi Luzipho Primary School valued at R63.6 million
- Sunshine Special School at R98,950,437
Gade went further to analyse the authenticity of the education department in performing its function to curb the increase of unemployment saying that 100% can be attained at schools but the achievement has no value due to the continuous increase in unemployment.
“The focus on the pass rate does not necessarily enhance the real problems faced in the outside world. It is unfortunate that all questions addressed to the department boil down to pass rate beyond the safety and infrastructural concerns that continue to fail the department. Unlike other sectors, the education sector unfortunately cannot wait to attain the stipulated 100% pass rate before adhering to other issues of safety and infrastructure,” said Gade.