Nine more years of mud schools

If the Education Department continues replacing mud schools with permanent buildings at its current pace it will not finish until 2023.

It is estimated that there are about 510 mud-built schools across the country, but this number could change when the department's data is updated.

Economist Conrad Barberton, who co-authored a report "Mud to Bricks", said the speed at which the department was working on replacing mud schools would change if it were pressured.

Barberton said the work would be completed sooner if big construction companies with project management experience were commissioned.

The report, released yesterday, outlines continuing problems with the upgrading of schools that have no roofs or toilets.

Barberton said that, because of poor maintenance, the number of schools in a poor condition could rise from 3500 to 4100 in the next few years.

According to the report:

• Between 15000 and 33000 more classrooms were needed at existing schools;
• Spending of school infrastructure grants was inept;
• In 2011-2012 the Department of Education spent only 10% of this grant, and in 2012-2013 only 41.6%;
• Provincial use of infrastructure budgets has been good, with the exception of Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

In February 2011 the Centre for Child Law and the Legal Resources Centre were awarded a court order that the department replace Eastern Cape mud schools with brick schools.

In the court settlement, the department committed itself to spending R8.2-billion by this year to improve school infrastructure.

The report was released to publicise the government's progress in upgrading schools.

It said: "The lack of capacity in the department [of education] '... raises questions about the cabinet's decision to make the department responsible for a new infrastructure programme of this magnitude."

The Grahamstown High Court yesterday ordered the department to list all the mud schools in Eastern Cape that needed upgrading, specifying the improvements planned.