Taking classrooms to learners

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has rolled out 145 mobile classrooms to 80 schools across the province.

This deployment is part of the WCED's plan, outlined in February, to address the backlogs in school infrastructure.

The department also partnered with the Telkom Foundation in a R30 million project to improve ICT infrastructure and extend ICT to the previously-disadvantaged schools across the province.

Uncapped broadband access was given to 150 schools, free for the first two years. The project also included interactive white boards with projectors and laptops for teachers.

MEC Donald Grant says the R1.9 billion infrastructure plan, among other things, includes the building of 25 new schools during the current medium-term expenditure framework, the replacement of 20 schools that were built with inappropriate materials, the building of additional relief classrooms, and the installation of mobile classrooms at schools where there is severe overcrowding.

He explains the need for these mobile units was highlighted at the end of 2009 when the department carried out a baseline audit of the infrastructure needs of all the schools in the province.

“The audit revealed there was severe overcrowding at various schools, and - after numerous discussions with these schools - it was decided that the most immediate and effective approach would be to install 126 additional mobile classrooms at these schools.”

Grant adds that 19 additional units were added to the priority list after the final enrolments for 2010 were completed.

The department says these units have provided, in a short term, much-needed support to some of the schools.

“We will continue to build on this momentum, and ensure the remainder of our infrastructure plan is effectively implemented over the next three years.”

A collaborative project by the Telkom Foundation and Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy has also planned to roll out 125 mobile laboratories to underprivileged schools.

The laboratories will be supplied with test tubes, chemicals and other science equipment. They will also be given well-stocked libraries, as part of a mobile library project that started last year and has already rolled out to 100 schools.

“As an ICT company, there is a definite need for continuing to grow and nurture the skills pool in the sciences and mathematics for the industry. Therefore, it is our aim to demystify science and mathematics, particularly in poor communities,” says Telkom Foundation CEO Reabetsoe Motsepe.