Cape Town -The Western Cape government on Thursday said the new Khanya Primary School in Philippi would be completed at the end of the month, in time for the third term of the academic year.
The Western Cape Minister of Education, Debbie Schäfer and and the Western Cape Minister of Transport and Public Works, Donald Grant visited the site of school and said they were “pleased and excited to see this brand new school at the final stages of the project”.
Learners who would attend classes at the new school had been temporarily accommodated at the former Buckingham Primary School building in Mitchells Plain since 2006, after they vacated the Ottery Youth Centre buildings, which they had been using since 2004.
The school would accommodate learners who reside in the Heinz Park, Samora Machel and Philippi areas.
Construction on the new school started in March 2014, and will cost a total of R54 million.
Grant said it was one of more than 20 going up the province.
“This year will see the completion of eleven new schools, while an extra fifteen are under construction,” said Grant.
Schäfer said in addition to these schools, the department of education is working in partnership with the accelerated schools infrastructure delivery initiative (ASIDI) on building and completing 38 ASIDI funded replacement schools this financial year.
Lauding the work the department of transport and public works has done, she added: “The department of transport and public works’ project team has done exceptionally well to deliver a state-of-the-art facility within budget the required time and budget, and ready for the start of the new school term.”
The MECs said the project employed 156 workers from the local community who were trained on site in bricklaying and carpentry. Out of the total amount used to construct the school, Grant said, R4.8 million was spent on labour, and R3.9 million was spent on local labour.
The new school will have 28 new classrooms, two grade R classrooms, two specialist rooms for art and music, an administration block, sick bay, a kitchen, a computer room, a school hall and library, two specialist rooms, a sportsfield and two physical training and playing surfaces.
ANA