The push is on for better schools countrywide

The basic education portfolio committee wants all provinces to ensure schools are adequately resourced with 100% access to information and communications technology resources by the end of the year.

A report on the department’s shortfalls and recommendations for the sixth administration highlighted the dire need for improved infrastructure at schools, inclusive education for special needs pupils and those in rural areas.

Irregular and fruitless expenditure was also cited as a problem to be tackled.

The report added that the department must submit regular progress reports on actions taken to address these issues.

It also raised the lack of teacher development and sanitation backlogs. The sanitation audit, which was conducted last year after some pupils drowned in pit toilets, found there were still unsafe pit toilets.

A large number of schools still only had pit latrines, mainly in the Eastern Cape and KwaZuluNatal.

Meanwhile, the government in the Free State has vowed to improve the state of education and infrastructure at schools in the province.

Premier Sisi Ntombela announced last week during the State of the Province address plans for at least eight schools to be completed by the end of the current fiscal year.

To address schools’ infrastructure challenges, Ntombela warned that action would be taken against contractors who did not meet their set completion dates.

– OFM News

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