Amid an influx of people into the Western Cape and a growing need for schooling, the final planning and construction of an education precinct in Wallacedene is set to resume this week.
On completion in 2024, the estimated R390 million project that has been in planning since December last year, will consist of a primary school, high school, library, crèche and multi-purpose hall.
The new high school will accommodate 1 120 learners.
Furthermore, an upgrade of the existing sports fields will be incorporated in Phase 2 of the precinct development with the completion of the final phases of both the primary and high school, the provincial education department confirmed recently.
The first phase of construction was to be completed in January, but work came to a grind after some grievances over land use arose last year.
In a report to Subcouncil 2 last Wednesday Clive Truter, a consultant for the provincial education department, said the project is now going ahead full steam.
“The development of this education precinct was a response to the urgent need of learner placement in Wallacedene. It was delayed in 2018 due to a lack of land and later due to illegal land invasions,” he said.
Truter said the first intake of children will be at the start of the 2024 academic year.
“In phase one, a total of 320 learners will be placed in the primary school and 450 in the high school. Going forward the rest of the school will be built out. This project is an ambitious undertaking, and the department is working closely with the education fraternity in the Western Cape,” he said.
Subcouncil 2 chair Marian Nieuwoudt said this educational precinct is a dream come true for the parents and learners in Wallacedene, but that community engagement is critical to take ownership of the buildings.
According to Ward councillor Siyabonga Duka from the ANC, there are currently 1 600 unplaced children in Wallacedene, a number that is steadily growing.
He says the local community is in dire need of schools.
“This is not something the community could have waited for any longer as there are too many unplaced children in Wallacedene and the number is growing.
“The community engaged in public meetings about the school and appreciate the support from the Western Cape Government to identify the need here and to Subcouncil 2 for creating a pathway to the education department,” he said to TygerBurger last week.
The precinct that has been in planning since last year forms part of the Western Cape Government’s ambitious Rapid School Build Programme to develop and build seven schools within six months to accommodate up to 3 200 learners in Cape Town.
The other schools are planned for Delft, Atlantis, Rivergate, Lwandle, Hout Bay and Century City. “We are grateful for the assistance of partners like the City of Cape Town in overcoming some of challenges that we have previously faced in building schools,” says education minister David Maynier.
Province wide the education department is undertaking an unprecedented infrastructure delivery that aims to deliver 842 additional classrooms with at least 26 000 places for learners in the province.
This number vastly exceeds the delivery of classrooms in previous years and has been made possible due to an R830 million increase in the infrastructure budget in 2022-’23.
