Sue Blaine
27 November 2008
Johannesburg — THE education department intends to rid SA of unsafe school environments by 2012.
This aim is part of the minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure published for public comment by Education Minister Naledi Pandor this month.
Education department statistics show that 42% of SA's 25043 public schools are overcrowded, 3152 have no water, 1532 no toilets, 4927 no electricity, 79% no library, 68% no computers for teaching and learning and 60% no laboratories.
This means there is an estimated R153bn capital expenditure backlog and a R30bn maintenance backlog, with R18bn budgeted to help sort this out over the next three years.
Comment must reach the national education department by December 23 this year.
The norms and standards, developed this year, would be fully adopted by the end of next year and implemented by 2010, Pandor said in Government Gazette 31616.
They will also be imposed on independent schools that will have to meet the minimum norms and standards.
The lack of norms and standards had been a key constraint to prioritising what schools needed, and defining the minimum infrastructure requirements for SA's public schools.
Because good planning needed a clear sequencing of priorities, the lack had translated into poor planning, and made it difficult for the national and provincial education departments to manage and control the costs of provision and the efficient use of resources, Pandor said in the document.
Schools that did not meet minimum safety standards would not be tolerated and would be closed and Pandor said in the gazetted document that "all effort will be made to not have any school (not meeting safety norms by) ... 2012".
The aim is that by 2030 all South African public schools will have "an effective teaching and learning environment".
SA has a multiplicity of schools -- covering all or part of primary or high school, and this presented a serious challenge to the development of norms and standards that could be systematically, equitably and transparently applied.
Pandor has decided to do away with combined and intermediate schools.
This means when the norms and standards are properly implemented all schools will be either primary or high schools and children in several different grades will not be taught in a single classroom.
There will also be limits on the number of pupils in a school (with the upper limit a high school of 1000 pupils) and a myriad stipulations on the size of classrooms, offices and other school facilities.
School buildings will, at least, have basic sanitation, water supply, electricity and communication connectivity.
They will also have burglar guards and a 1,8m high perimeter fence, a fire rating of 30 minutes (meaning the building will not collapse in under this time) and a fire extinguisher every 150m' .
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