Page 7 - DoE_Supplement

Providing infrastructure that gives dignity to our people
Twenty- ve years into democracy, the post-apartheid South African Government continues to face many broad-spectrum challenges created by the former regime. These challenges affect millions of South Africans daily across all sectors, continuing the negative effects and leaving South Africa with a legacy of structural and systematic inequality.
This is especially evident in the South African education system, where uneven development in providing basic school infrastructure to all public schools occurred.
Education is a key priority for the government and as such, detailed programmes and guidelines are in
place to address the issues within the education system, speci cally the physical infrastructure of primary and secondary public schools.
In 2013, the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs. Angie Motshekga, prescribed the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards
for Public School Infrastructure. The regulations detail measures to be taken to provide relevant, responsive, inclusive and sustainable infrastructure to all schools to create an enabling environment for teaching and learning.
Creating Enabling School Environments
According to the regulations, there are four main measures which will determine the state of the teaching environment.
These are:
1. Basic safety - whether there are factors
present which may cause harm to learners and educators and impede the school from carrying out its core functions.
2. Minimum functionality - whether the school has the resources and basic facilities that would enable it to perform the core functions at the minimum acceptable level;
3. Optimum functionality - whether the school has the resources and facilities that would enable it to function optimally i.e. beyond the levels of basic safety and minimum functionality; and
4. Enrichment - whether resources for
a speci c objective that the Minister may determine should be added to a school environment which complies with optimum functionality. Enriched environments are not intended to apply to all schools.
In addition, an enabling teaching and learning environment includes educational spaces, education support spaces, and administration spaces. These areas, as well as all other classrooms and facilities, must adhere to the determined sizes set out by the regulations. Once schools have been evaluated, all measures must be taken to adapt to the required changes.
Factors that in uence evaluation and planning of infrastructure
While schools must meet the prescribed regulations, all education facilities are different due, in large part, to where they are located. This, as well as other environmental factors, such as safety of learners and educators, access to basic services, and
potentially dangerous areas such as taxi ranks, public hostels, and busy roads, must be considered in the evaluation and planning stages.
Each learner is required to have adequate space when attending school and special consideration is to be made for the teaching of specialised further education and
training subjects, as well as for learners with special educational needs. Additional factors that in uence a school’s evaluation include lighting and electrical power outlets, acoustics, comfort levels, sports facilities, and architectural design.
The needs of the school environment
will be prioritised, and all matters detailed
in the regulations will be considered when determining an environment’s priority needs. The subjects taught in schools, matters
that relate to them, and any teaching requirements are considered to rank high among priority needs. These factors will help to determine what needs to be provided to a school in terms of infrastructure, furniture, equipment, books and instructional materials.
Implementation and Review
To ensure the continuation and progress of addressing challenges within the education system, the Department will review all guidelines and regulations periodically to ensure that they remain current and relevant to the needs of schools. The regulations are to be implemented progressively.
Infrastructure backlog
The province, similar to the rest of the country, is faced with signi cant schools’ infrastructure backlogs which will take years and substantial budgets to address.
R73bn
Required to address the infrastructure backlog to get schools on par with the MUNS-PSI
R21bn
Required to address the seven-year backlog to provide schools with basic services by 2020.
R8bn
The annual funding required to meet the 2030 timeframe for implementation of the MUNS-PSI.
Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure (MUNS-PSI)
Timeline for elimination of backlogs in line with the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure
3-year timeframe
Nov 2013 – Nov 2016
Prioritisation of inappropriate structures and basic services).
R3 310 350 283*
3-year timeframe
7-year timeframe
Nov 2013 – Nov 2020
Provision of classrooms
(ordinary and Grade R); security (fencing and burglar bars); basic services (water, electricity, sanitation); connectivity; and elimination of inappropriate structures (classrooms and ablutions).
R21 370 476 261*
10-year timeframe
10-year timeframe
Nov 2013 – Nov 2023
Provision of multipurpose classrooms; library and multimedia centres; science and computer laboratories; elimination inappropriate structures (education spaces).
R12 944 364 175*. 17-year timeframe
17-year timeframe
Nov 2013 – Nov 2030
Provision of administration areas; support areas (nutrition centres, parking bays); sport facilities; elimination of inappropriate structures admin spaces and hostels).
R29 170 394 596*
Condition Backlog - (rehabilitation, refurbishment) and ongoing (life cycle) maintenance
R6 327 580 057*
*Estimated costs of addressing backlogs in the province (at present-day values). Allowances required for escalation over the 17-year time frame to eliminate backlogs.
Eastern Cape Department of Education Schools’ Infrastructure Supplement | Page 7