WCED plans to build 55 new schools across WC over next 5 years

CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) plans to build 55 new schools across the province over the next five years.

This, it said, was to ensure it met the demand for access to quality learning opportunities.

Department officials briefed the provincial standing committee on education on the status of school maintenance and construction projects across the Western Cape on Tuesday.

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It said that over the past five years, it had built 32 new schools and 16 replacement schools.

The department’s deputy director-general for education planning, Salie Abrahams, said that the long-term goal was to progressively improve school infrastructure so that schools were able to function optimally.

"In our planning, we think we need to build 475 classrooms per year, and so for the last three years, we’ve been exceeding that self-set target if we are to meet the growth profile of the Western Cape. We expect [in] Grade R classrooms, we will probably increase the number of classrooms we will add into that space."