A task team has been set up to find — within two months — ways to speed up the provision of classrooms, the education and public works departments said on Monday.
The team will report by June with concrete plans to end the practice of teaching children outdoors, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor told reporters in Pretoria.
The June report to Pandor and Minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau will be followed by quarterly progress reports to both departments.
The ministers and officials from their departments met on Monday morning to discuss ways of eliminating impediments to the long-term goal of ensuring that no pupils are taught outdoors.
Pandor said it was agreed to provide pupils currently being taught under trees with alternative accommodation in the short term.
”Alternative accommodation is to be arranged immediately as a high priority in provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo,” she said.
Pandor said in a province such as Gauteng, which has a relatively developed schools infrastructure, there is a shortage of classrooms in some areas.
”We know there are many people from other provinces who send their children to be educated in Gauteng. These pupils are not planned for by the provincial education department, leading to classroom shortages,” she said.
Pandor said those pupils will now also be taken into account.
Sigcau said her department has dispensed with ”elaborate” tender procedures in a bid to boost the project and get more value for money spent on school construction.
The availability of qualified engineers, architects and quantity surveyors will be ensured to make managing, monitoring and planning the project easier, Sigcau said.
Both departments agreed that where it is evident current tender procedures cause delays, emergency procurement procedures will be considered to speed up the building of classrooms. — Sapa