Gauteng faces huge classroom shortages and the government does not have the resources to cope, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday.
”Gauteng’s classroom shortage is getting steadily worse. Public-private partnerships and incentives are needed because the Gauteng provincial government says it does not have sufficient resources to cope,” DA spokesperson David Quail said in a statement.
He said that in the next four to six years, the Gauteng department of education will require 9 566 additional classrooms.
Citing research done by the University of the Witwatersrand’s education policy unit, Quail said additional classrooms and teachers will be needed each year.
”The [department] stated that there was a backlog of 4 698 classrooms (174 schools) in 2004/05. In 2006/07 this had grown to 198 schools,” he said, adding that the figure did not take into account the requirements for grade-R learners.
He said the department earlier this year estimated that the building of new schools and classrooms would cost R7-billion and the refurbishment and maintenance of the other 2 400 schools would require R9-billion.
”What is needed over the medium term framework is R16-billion, but only R2-billion has been voted for school infrastructure,” said Quail.
He said the DA in the legislature has been interrogating the department’s planning and budgeting for infrastructure for years, and more requests and complaints are being received from high-growth areas.
A department spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa