POLOKWANE – Education MEC, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya has confirmed that a total of R85m from their latest infrastructure budget has been allocated to construct three new schools in the Polokwane circuit.
Two will be secondary schools located in Bendor and Greenside respectively, while a primary school would be built in the Fauna Park and Serala View area.
“Bendor will receive R30m, Greenside R30m and Serala/Fauna R25m,” departmental media liaison officer, Mike Maringa confirmed.
The development came as part of efforts to increase the number of schools in the city, to meet the increasing population of learners.
Read more: Construction of new schools in Polokwane prioritised
At the beginning of the academic year, with several learners having still been unplaced as the year started, the department expressed that it was making huge strides in terms of the plans for more schools in the city.
Polokwane Mayor, John Mpe announced that the municipality was willing to provide the necessary services such as land, proper roads and water, among others.
Read more: Municipality commits to donating land for new schools in Polokwane
Tabling the provincial budget on March 30, the MEC expressed special gratitude for efforts by Mpe in this regard.
“I want to applaud the mayor, John Mpe and the executive committee for their keen interest in these projects. They are traversing the journey with us because the lack of education infrastructure and the frustrations that come with enrollment affect all of us.”
According to Lerule-Ramakhanya, the secondary school is just one of the two schools that already form part of the 2023/24 financial year’s infrastructure budget in this circuit.
“The planning phase of an additional 105 schools (in the province) has started and will go a long way in alleviating admission congestion in the city schools. The Education Infrastructure Grant budget allocated for infrastructure development in this financial year is R1.371b. The department has received an additional allocation of R100m to attend to storm-damaged schools. The Total Infrastructure Development budget amounts to R1.471b. In the 2022/23 financial year, the Department of Education was able to complete the upgrading and addition of 11 schools,” she said.
