Proposed changes to the school infrastructure law scrapping crucial deadlines and timelines could result in “government taking however long it wants to fix and build new schools”, lobby group Equal Education has warned.
While the department of basic education has identified overcrowding in classrooms as a huge challenge, there are fears that the building of new classrooms and schools could take too long to complete.
The draft amendments to the regulations relating to minimum uniform norms and standards for public school infrastructure were gazetted for public comment on June 10.
According to EE, it was extended to July 31, after it and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) “called the DBE [department of basic education] out” for not informing the public about the publication of the document.
EE said the current school infrastructure law has clear deadlines, including the years 2016, 2020, 2023 and 2030 for the delivery of infrastructure, which have been removed in the proposed amendments.
In a joint submission to the department on July 29, both EE and the EELC said: “These deadlines ensure urgency for providing safe and proper school facilities and make it possible for school communities to hold the DBE and provincial education departments accountable.”
“Removing these deadlines will be terrible for pupils and teachers who face dangerous school infrastructure daily. EE and EELC strongly reject the scrapping of the deadlines. The DBE and provincial education departments must show more commitment to meeting the deadlines — including the 2016 and 2020 deadlines.”
During a briefing to parliament on May 10, the department indicated that basic pit toilets at 1,549 schools needed to be replaced.
The department also said during the briefing it had prepared a capital investment plan “that quantifies the number of classrooms required based on the norms and standards”.
An EE statement said there has been progress in government’s delivery of safe and decent school infrastructure since minister Angie Motshekga adopted the school infrastructure law in 2013.
“However, progress has been painfully slow, with far too many schools still having pit toilets, overcrowded classrooms and buildings that are falling apart.”
Progress has been painfully slow, with far too many schools still having pit toilets, overcrowded classrooms, and buildings that are falling apart.
— Equal Education group
A community member from Dimbaza in Eastern Cape told EE: “I want my daughter to get a dignified education as anyone should. The law affects me because, as a parent, I want something to hold the government accountable in ensuring equal and fair education for everyone.”
The EE went to court in 2018 to “fix” some of the gaps in the infrastructure law, a case it won.
“While we are happy with the proposed change to make the reports on provincial school project progress available to the public, we are deeply worried about the DBE wanting to remove important guidance on the details that must be in the reports,” the statement read. “The law requires provinces to include certain information in their annual project plans and progress reports to the DBE. This information includes existing backlogs, the cost involved in reducing these backlogs, plans for building new schools and plans for the upgrading and maintenance work for existing schools.”
EE said scrapping these guidelines “means provinces can decide what and how much information to make available to the public”.
“The reports must help school communities monitor the work provincial education departments do.”
EE researcher Elizabeth Biney told TimsLIVE Premium information on the number of new schools needed “is not easy to come by as it is not publicly available”.
She said the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (Asidi), which was meant to replace schools constructed of inappropriate material, has only managed to replace 266 of the original target of 483 schools, according to the department’s website.
“Asidi projects only capture a small proportion of new schools needed. Information provided after a request in September 2021, shows 581 schools require upgrading/replacement because of their inappropriate structure.”
She said the differences between the two figures “show the unreliable public data on school infrastructure”.
“Given the conflicting information, it is no wonder infrastructure delivery has been very slow and uncoordinated.”
She said national and provincial governments were not putting enough money towards building schools.
“There is not enough being done by provincial education departments to hold accountable the implementing agents who manage the building of government schools.”
Meanwhile, presenting a discussion document to the ANC’s national policy conference in Johannesburg on Saturday, NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said a programme must be put in place to urgently deal with overcrowding in schools.
“This will be done by communities and schools to build extra classes, instead of going through a long process. They have already started with that and they find that it’s cheaper,” she said.
Basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said EE’s comments, together with the input from all other individuals and organisations, were part of a wider public participation process.
“It is not standard practice to isolate input received during a process such as this one,” he said.
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