Limpopo schools damaged by storms to get R200 million facelift

The Limpopo provincial treasury has allocated R200 million to the department of basic education to help rebuild schools that were destroyed by vicious storms last year. 

The storms left many of the province’s government buildings destroyed, electric poles and trees collapsed while access roads to schools and towns were left in a state of disrepair.

About 300 families affected by the storm were provided with aid, such as food and blankets, while other families were displaced. The affected districts, according to Social Development MEC Nkakareng Rakgoale, were Mopani, Vhembe and Waterberg. 

Thirty-two schools were damaged by the storms, making it difficult for teaching to take place at the beginning of the academic year. Some schools had to send pupils back home as there was not enough space for all the pupils.

School materials, such as textbooks, furniture and teaching aids were also lost during the storms. At the time, the department had made 108 mobile classrooms available to help solve issues around congestion. 

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Now, four months after the storm, the Limpopo provincial government has put millions aside to repair the damaged schools. Through its MEC, Seaparo Sekoati, the provincial treasury announced during its budget vote speech that government had allocated R200 million to rebuild the storm-damaged schools. During the allocation, Sekoati said education was allocated the fattest slice of the budget. 

“I am allocating R36.445 billion for education. The allocation includes R882.4 million for Presidential Youth Employment Initiatives, R35.3 million for the Sanitary Dignity Project, R100 million for e-education, R200 million for storm-damaged schools, R320 million for additional compensation of employees of teachers, R3.2 billion for conditional grants and R696.4 million of own revenue. The allocation will also include R316.8 million for early childhood development and R184.9 million for the early childhood development grant,” said Sekoati.

The Limpopo Education Department said it was happy with the budget allocation. 

“The MEC will give an account of how the budget for the current year was utilised, and outline how allocations for 2022/23 will be spent during her budget vote speech on 29 March 2022,” said the Limpopo Education Department’s spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene on Monday.

news@citizen.co.za

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