The affected schools were directed to quantify the damage and in turn, send a quotation of the value of the damages to the Department. The view of the Department is that this will accelerate the process to fix the schools, said education MEC Bonakele Majuba.
“Regrettably, 153 schools have been broken into or vandalized since the start of the Lockdown. 77 of these schools needed to be fixed as such the Department decided to augment the maintenance allocation of these schools,” explained Majuba.
According to the department, Mpumalanga province has 1815 schools, 1680 which are Public schools, and 135 are Independent Schools.
The Department has strongly condemned the vandalism of schools and requests communities to work closely with the police to expose the culprits who have elected to damage school and jeopardize the future of learners.
“In the province, we have 88 out of the 1815 schools that could not open on 08 June 2020 due to various reasons ranging from inadequate water & improper sanitation infrastructure,” added Majuba.
The department has further indicated that they are working with the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport to fast-track processes to fix these affected schools.