MEC Motshekga Hands the Phumula Community a School

The Gauteng MEC for Education, Angie Motshekga said about R100 million has been used in busing learners into areas where there are schools. Motshekga explained that this has been a very costly exercise for the department. According to her, this was done in order to improve the education of an African child. She was addressing people who had attended the official opening of Phumula Gardens Primary at Leondale in Ekurhuleni Metro.

Motshekga further said that there are other matters that make it impossible for the department to meet the mandate of building enough schools for the communities. “We have to deal with the 2% growth of people caused by immigration that Gauteng has experienced in the past financial year. This has placed immense burden on the facilities causing the department to use methods like busing and platooning at schools,” she explained.

She also told the congregants that her department has come up with a perfect plan to accommodate the Early Childhood Development centers. “My department has just finished a plan for centers of ECD. These centers are going to be built according to specifications. We cannot have learners in primary schools using facilities meant for High School going learners,” she told the community.

Answering the call made earlier on by the chairperson of the School Governing Body – SGB, Motshekga explained that she was going to ask the authorities of the nearby High School to allow learners from Phumula gardens Primary to use the buildings. “Mr. Mabunda, your pleas has been heard. I agree that we cannot have overcrowded classrooms while there is an empty school that can be used to alleviate the problem. I'm going to discuss with relevant authorities to help in this regard,” she added.

At the moment Phumula Gardens Primary accommodates one thousand nine hundred learners from Grade 1 to Grade 7. Due to overcrowding at the school, teachers have been forced to allow seventy learners per class. The chairperson of the SGB, Sphiwo Mabunda told invited guests and parents that this problem cannot be left to continue without any remedy. “MEC and your entourage I therefore plead with you to help us in this regard. Our area has one primary school which caters for many areas, while we have four High Schools. I urge you to convert one of these schools to help Phumula Gardens Primary with the question of overcrowding,” pleaded Mabunda.

Learners and parents of Phumula Gardens Primary provided entertainment for the congregants who had attended the ceremony. MEC Motshekga and the school principal unveiled the plague while the head boy and the head girl at the school hoisted the country's flag and the school's flag simultaneously.