Still no progress with renovations at HA Jack Primary School in Highlands North after three years
DA Shadow MEC for Education and Ward 74 councillor visited HA Jack Primary School only to find infrastructure issues from three years ago.
After more than three years, no progress has been made in terms of renovating HA Jack Primary School in Highlands North.
Ward 74 councillor and MMC for Development Planning Belinda Echeozonjoku and Democratic Alliance Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education Khume Ramulifho conducted an oversight inspection of the school on August 5.
Echeozonjoku said this was a routine visit to local government schools, ‘however, we picked up that there are issues that have to do with the provincial government which the principal and some parents brought to my attention which I have then asked for assistance from our member of the provincial legislature [Ramulifho]’.
Ramulifho said he had paid a visit to the school about three years ago and thought the issues identified then had been resolved by now. The issues identified were infrastructure leakages and the roof and floors were falling apart.
“It’s unfortunate that nothing has been done since. So, I will take the matter up with the Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi, especially regarding the renovation of the school. We have been notified that they [the Department of Education] appointed a contractor who claims he doesn’t have money,” added Ramulifho.
He said the rainy season was approaching and schools should not have situations where classes were unusable, including the school hall.
“Teaching and learning are not conducive at the school in the current situation. The most important challenge is that we don’t want the ceiling to fall apart and possibly have some casualties as we have seen a number of instances where children get injured. These are some of the situations which can be avoided so why not avoid them rather than wait for a crisis. So, this is the commitment we are making to the school to ensure that learners are in a safe environment.”
The Department of Education was contacted for comment and had still not provided any at the time of going to press.
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