As part of its preparatory work on proposed plans for a much-needed new high school in Brackenfell, at a proposed sight in Frans Conradie Street, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will engage the community in a public meeting on Friday evening (31 January).
This, according to provincial education spokesperson Bronagh Hammond, is part of the department’s planning process, but does not necessarily mean a new school in the next few years.
“There are several new school proposals that are undergoing the same internal processes to determine needs, costs, and demand in various areas,” she told TygerBurger this week. “Any new school, going forward, is therefore budget-dependent. We cannot commit to a new school at this stage, but community engagement is part of the research process.”
Financial challenges
But regardless of whether the department decide to proceed or not proceed with this project it will not be ready for the 2026 intake.
“While we would love to commit to this project, and many more new school-build projects, at this stage we are cognisant of the financial realities we face as a result of national fiscal challenges,” Hammond said. “We will announce any plans to build a new school once a final decision is made.”
Brackenfell has for years experienced a shortage of schools due to an explosion of property development and population growth.
This resulted in crowded classrooms and many learners not able to find a classroom at the start of the academic year. It has left scores of parents and children living in Brackenfell in the lurch, where only three primary schools and two high schools serve a population that in back in the 2011 census counted 53 185 people in 18 000 households.
Since then, the ongoing school crisis has been bemoaned by the community every time a new high-density property development, is approved by the City of Cape Town.
And while role-players in the property development sector projects R22 billion in the mixed-use residential markets in the next 10 years for the greater Brackenfell area, the WCED cut its budget in 2023 by R2,5 billion to address financial constraints brought about by national fiscal challenges.
