The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The Department of Basic Education (DBE), acting on a request from the minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga, as a priority for her first term of office, started working on the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (Asidi) concept in 2009 and sent its first concept note for the initiative to National Treasury as early as 2010.
The objective of Asidi is to eradicate the Basic Safety Norms backlog in schools without water, sanitation and electricity and to replace those schools constructed from inappropriate material, including mud schools, to contribute towards levels of optimum learning and teaching. The Schools Infrastructure Backlog Grant funds the Asidi portfolio. The programme is being delivered according to the Integrated Infrastructure Management System from the Construction Industry Development Board and National Treasury.
The Asidi programme comprises the following sub-programmes:
• Inappropriate Structures: 510 schools that were built from inappropriate material in their entirety are being replaced with new schools that meet the department’s standards of basic functionality.
• Providing Sanitation: 939 schools that previously did not have access to sanitation are being supplied with at least a basic level of sanitation.
• Providing Electricity: 932 identified schools that are not serviced are being given access to electrical energy supply.
• Providing Water: 1145 schools that do not have access to water are being provided with basic water supply.
The programme is being driven by the DBE with the assistance of a project support unit. Implementing agents appoint professional service providers and contractors to execute the work.
Since inception, the Asidi programme has completed the construction of 77 schools. Four of these are in the Western Cape and one in Mpumalanga. Asidi is picking up steam and during the course of the next financial year, a further 150 schools are planned for completion.
As for basic services, 266 schools now have decent sanitation, 224 have been given access to water and 265 connected to electricity, all for the first time. These basic services are taken for granted in many places in the country, but it makes a world of difference for rural areas especially when learner and educator alike had to resort to the bush for toilets. Asidi is as much about bricks and mortar as it is about restoring dignity to rural education.
Furthermore, Asidi schools are bringing a range of facilities that are considerably brightening the prospects of thousands of South African children. All Asidi schools come standard with science and computer labs, with schools receiving science kits and 27 laptops each. A culture of reading is nascent and growing through the spacious libraries that are part of the Asidi complete school model. Custom-built nutrition centres ensure that the feeding of children is done in sanitary conditions.
From a skills development and job creation point of view, Asidi is giving valuable on-the-job experience to just over 100 interns who have graduated in various fields of study.
There are challenges, however. It is costly and complex to provide services in areas where bulk services in water and electrification are not yet available. For instance, many of the schools are in the rural areas of South Africa and more often than not municipal bulk water or sanitation is non-existent but the programme is expected to provide schools with the necessary services. Service providers tend to stretch their resources thinly over several projects outside Asidi, which often results in poor human resource and cash flow management, leading to poor performance. The terrain in provinces like the Eastern Cape remains a daunting physical challenge that is worsened every rainy season. The most important thing, however, is that Asidi is up and running and rolling out state of the art schools that are transforming not only rural landscapes but also the lives of thousands of learners. The future looks bright.
Albert Gumbo is the Head of Communications for the Asidi programme
This article is part of a larger supplement which you can find here. This supplement has been paid for and its contents supplied and signed off by KPMG and its partners