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New schools to be built as billions set aside for education in Gauteng budget

Gauteng Education Department’s obligation to building more schools will be realized as a large chunk of the provincial budget has been allocated to education.

MEC for Finance Barbara Creecy has made R40.8 billion available to education.

She was tabling the third budget speech under the current administration at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Tuesday.

Of the original budget‚ R3.37 billion will go towards public primary schools‚ early childhood development and special school.

Creecy said R2.3 billion will be allocated for the special school sector which caters for learners with intellectual and other disabilities which includes R12.6 million for new conditional grant for severely disabled learners. Furthermore‚ R1.07 billion will be provided to 1.15 million learners with a hot meal at school every day‚ Creecy said.

“Education will spend R147.6 million for the construction of new schools and R39.9 million allocated for rehabilitation and refurbishment of existing schools‚” said Creecy.

She added that a further R3.39 billion will be spent on learner transport‚ as well as supporting the continued rollout of an e-learning strategy‚ the procurement of school supplies and learner material‚ payment of municipal bills‚ teacher development and support initiatives and the improvement of grade 12 performances to increase the province’s bachelor pass rates.

MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi earlier this year said building new schools would ensure pupils were placed in schools as swiftly as possible so that the academic process could continue.

His remarks came after his department had a backlog of over 50 000 pupils which had not been placed at the start of the academic year in January.

Earlier this year‚ a research report revealed that Gauteng education department failed to keep the promises it made to the Constitutional Court on how much it would spend on new building new schools missing its own target of R1.7 billion by a whopping R1.3 billion.

The report raised the spectre of many of pulpits again failing to find a place at their chosen schools or enduring overcrowded conditions.

Present during the speech was Gauteng Premier David Makhura as well as other members of the executive council.

 

— TMG Digital

 

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