The newly built block of eight classrooms at Bordeaux Primary School will help alleviate the pressure of placing learners in the school.
The MEC for Gauteng Department of Education Panyaza Lesufi opened the new block on January 25 with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
This is part of the department’s plan to build classrooms that will alleviate pressure in identified areas. These newly built classrooms will accommodate more than 350 learners.
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The school principal Josephine Shabangu thanked the department for implementing the project. “We can now accommodate more learners and we can help out the neighbouring schools that have more than 40 learners in one class,” she said.
Lesufi said, “In the last three years, it was extremely difficult for schools to plan and budget given the numbers that are coming to Gauteng. Our old model of trying to build a school for two to three years was overtaken by the number of people that are coming to the [province].”
To deal with the pressure of placements in high pressure districts, the department is investing R240 million in building more classrooms. Accordingly, these funds will enable the construction of 229 classrooms in identified primary schools and 270 classrooms in identified high schools.
“This newly built structure demonstrates that the model of a decentralised budget for schools in high pressure areas, with credible SGBs which are capable of implementing such a project, is indeed working. We are excited that this project took about four months to complete and we hope all other upcoming projects will also not take long to complete.”
The SGB chairperson Thuliswa Moyo said the opening of the new classrooms was a huge achievement. “Prior to this, we struggled with admissions and now we are able to take more learners who we were unable to accommodate before,” she said.
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