GDE implements strategies to expand capacity at schools

JOHANNESBURG - As Gauteng schools struggle with an influx of learner applications and infrastructure challenges, the provincial Department of Education said it has implemented four key strategies to help expand the capacity at schools.

Some of the resolutions include the provision of self-built classrooms, the establishment of new satellite schools, the construction of new schools and the provision of mobile classrooms.

The department said it is currently in the process of constructing 18 new schools, 10 of which are entirely new, while 8 will serve as replacement schools.

From the 2020 to 2023 academic year, the department settled 2,054 additional self-built classrooms that were funded to increase capacity by at least 70,000.

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It said schools are currently in the process of building an additional 1,745 self-built classrooms, estimated to be completed in the next two years.

In the same breath, due to admissions pressure, a total of 24 additional schools were established as satellites, which the department said are functioning as fully established schools.

Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane said: “But we also have provision for mobile classrooms for emergency purposes, which we have delivered to 223 schools across our 15 districts.”

Chiloane underscored the milestone of acquiring and developing new schools in the province, which has been a longstanding struggle in the past.