Lerule–Ramakhanya urged to prioritise damaged schools 

SEKHUKHUNE 

The Democratic Alliance in Limpopo has called on Education MEC, Mavhungu Lerule–Ramakhanya to prioritise storm damaged schools and address the backlog in repairing them.

The party said Lerule Ramakhanya must also assess the damage to schools caused by the rainfall this week and assist affected schools urgently.

This week, several schools in the province were damaged by strong winds and heavy rainfall. We are concerned that these schools will now have to wait to be fixed. The damage to school infrastructure threatens to negatively impact learning and other programmes like the nutrition programme that is key for improved attendance and performance, said DA’s Limpopo spokesperson on education, Jacques Smalle.

Smalle said the damage to these schools needs to be urgently addressed and alternative plans must be made immediately to ensure that learners are not disrupted as they write their end of year exams.

“Temporary measures such as the use of mobile classrooms should be explored for use in the final weeks of the academic year,” he added.

According to the DA, the Limpopo education department has struggled to overcome the historical challenge of storm damaged schools that goes back as far as 2011 and at current funding levels the backlog is likely to continue to grow and negatively impact learners.

“While the department’s infrastructure budget should also be used to address storm damage, there are additional amounts allocated specifically to attend to storm damaged schools.

“In the 2022/23 financial year R200 million was allocated, R100 million in 2023/24 and R100 million in 2024/25. These resources are insufficient and shows the department is not serious about fixing damaged schools.The DA believes the department is mandated and has a responsibility to provide a conducive environment for learning and teaching and must prioritise the repairing of all the storm damaged infrastructure.”