EC’s school upgrade at snail’s pace

Only three of 24 Eastern Cape schools planned to be built in the last financial year were actually built, says education lobby group Equal Education.

Equal Education researcher Daniel Sher said they were astounded by the department’s slow pace.

“This information detailed in a Treasury report reveals the shocking slow pace of implementation of the norms and standards for school infrastructure.”

Education department spokesman Loyiso Pulumani acknowledged the problems but said the department experienced an “unfortunate slowdown” in the delivery of infrastructure.

The department had since remedied the situation through critical appointments, he said.

According to the latest Estimates of Provincial Revenue and Expenditure report for the 2016-17 financial year which was recently tabled by the provincial treasury, in 2015-16 only three of the planned 24 schools were built while three more were under construction.

Eight of the 84 planned Grade R classrooms were completed, leaving 76 to build.

A total of 23 schools have been earmarked for major renovation.

Sher said the department was “way behind” on building schools.

He said that the school infrastructure crisis continued to run deep through the national education system with the rural areas being hit the hardest.

“The infrastructure crisis is particularly bad in rural provinces.

“Approximately 31% of all schools with no water supply are located in the Eastern Cape, as well as 91% of those with no sanitation facilities,” said Sher.

Equal Education understood there were a number of severe challenges facing the province.

These were:

• A shortage of experienced contractors in rural areas;
• Service providers who reneged on their obligations or were guilty of poor planning and financing; and
• Maladministration by implementing agents.

“As civil society, we appreciate the difficulties in addressing the infrastructure backlog, and understand the size and scope of the school infrastructure crisis that the department inherited.

“However, these must not be seen or used as excuses for under-performance, but rather as justification for additional support,” he said.

Pulumani said the critical appointments made consisted of professionals in the building environment which included a chief director, two directors, two chief architects and two quantity surveyors.

“This has resulted in a major shift in our expenditure patterns. As we speak, I can tell you that we have exceeded projections in the current financial year.

“We have strengthened oversight of implementing agents servicing the department,” said Pulumani, adding that the department had finalised 19 projects between the end of April and July this year.

“We are confident that we have overcome past weaknesses and will meet all our projections in 2016-2017,” said Pulumani.

Despite Pulumani’s confidence, last month an investigation by the Daily Dispatch team revealed that, five years after the Eastern Cape government announced plans to eradicate hundreds of mud structures, the situation had not changed in many of those schools.

Back then it was announced that about 530 unsafe schools in the province would be rebuilt through the accelerated school infrastructure development initiative programme at a cost of R8-billion.

Despite the dire need for infrastructure, the provincial department of education had to return an unspent R530-million, meant for infrastructure development of such schools, to national Treasury.

In the Treasury report, the department listed the establishment of cluster hostels and the renovation of old boarding facilities in places such as Healdtown and Thubalethu, Riebeek East, Hillside and Makaula Senior Secondary school as key achievements.

The delivery of stationery and text books, the “no fee policy” and national school nutrition programme, as well as the distribution of study guides were also listed as key achievements. — arethal@dispatch.co.za