The SA Democratic Teachers Union welcomed the upgrading and rebuilding of schools as infrastructure improvements done by the Department of Education to make a more safer environment for teachers and learners.
This comes after the education department embarked on a journey of fixing schools for the safety of everyone in the school premises especially for learners and teachers while attending classes.
Developments and improvements were seen in Mpumalanga and Limpopo where their education departments handed-over schools to the communities with Education MECs leading the handovers.
Sadtu’s media officer Nomusa Cembi told IOL that they appreciated and welcomed the improvements at schools across the country.
She said they would support the education department on the journey because they considered learners and teachers safety.
“Our teachers will now be in a safe environment where they can teach and make sure that learners get good grades without even worrying about the school infrastructure and how it will collapse when lessons are still on,” she said.
However, Cembi mentioned that it is still a long walk for both Sadtu and DBE because many of the schools need a lot of work from them to be fit for everyday use.
“We’ll continue to push the education department to make sure that our people get proper and equal schools with high grade resources.
“We will also help if they need our help,” she said.
She stated that all public schools in South Africa must have equal resources that will ensure that learners are well prepared throughout their schooling journey.
“Schools in townships should not be better than the ones in rural areas because that will create a huge cap for learners.
“We need to be equal to avoid backlog and other contributing factors,” she said.
She maintained that some schools in rural areas are in shambles and needed serious intervention because if not then the academic results would always be a thing to talk about.
She said they were behind the DBE with all their great work they are doing for communities.