The Gauteng education department is in the process of securing private sector funding to build 200 schools after receiving R2.5 billion from the national treasury for the 2025-26 financial year to build 18 schools, MEC Matome Chiloane has said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say [we need] about 200 schools \u2014 it would make a big difference. We are coming up with different strategies. Amongst those which I do believe will work quicker is the public-private partnership,\u201d Chiloane told journalists at the weekend. <\/p>\n
The provincial department said it faced an immediate shortage<\/a> of 132 schools in townships \u2014 75 primary schools and 57 secondary schools. Eighty-eight schools are required in areas with high-density, middle-income housing developments.<\/p>\n The Gauteng department of infrastructure development says it plans to build 20 new schools by 2029, averaging about four schools per year. Gauteng, the country\u2019s most populous province, currently has 5\u202f790 public schools. <\/p>\n Statistics<\/a> from the national education department indicate that, over the past decade, learner numbers surged from nearly 1.95 million in 2014 to over 2.28 million in 2023, reflecting an increase of around 725\u202f000 learners. <\/p>\n Infrastructure growth has, however, not kept up with learner enrollments. Between 2014 and 2023, only 28 new schools were built, averaging one school for every 12\u202f035 additional learners. <\/p>\n During the 2023-24 financial year, KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of schools either built or renovated, with three projects completed, followed by Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, which each built one school<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chilaone said the increase in learners is exacerbated by people relocating to Gauteng and that private-public partnerships are therefore required to address overcrowding. <\/p>\n \u201cThe private sector comes on board to work with us to build schools, and then they hand over to us so that we can utilise them, and then we come into some form of agreement. So, that is in the process; we are just tightening the process,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Chiloane\u2019s comments echo those of Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, who has been actively championing a shift toward stronger private sector engagement<\/a> to support and uplift the South African schooling system. Since her appointment in mid 2024, Gwarube has underscored that fundamentally shifting the education landscape cannot be achieved by government funding alone. <\/p>\n During a basic education lekgotla earlier this year, Gwarube again stressed that private sector partners are not merely financial supporters but \u201cthinking partners\u201d who can contribute data, insight and innovative solutions to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes. <\/p>\n \u201cThe basic education sector is reeling from budget constraints. In this climate, corporate partnerships are critical in serving our 13.5 million learners across the country, regardless of where they come from. However, in partnering with corporations, we must implement measures to manage branding in schools. Partnerships are key and so is protecting our learners,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the basic education department welcomed a McDonald’s-led initiative that introduced solar-powered “Mi Desks<\/a>” for disadvantaged schools where sitting on the floor is a reality for learners. But civil society groups criticised the donation, saying the minister’s decision to allow fast-food branding into schools was \u201cgrossly irresponsible and negligent\u201d. <\/p>\n In May, Gwarube estimated that R32\u202fbillion was needed to provide additional classrooms at more than 8\u202f200 overcrowded schools, while R14\u202fbillion would be required to construct over 13\u202f000 toilets to meet minimum norms and standards. The Gauteng education department is in the process of securing private sector funding to build 200 schools after receiving R2.5 billion from the national treasury for the 2025-26 financial year to build 18 schools, MEC Matome Chiloane has said. \u201cI would say [we need] about 200 schools \u2014 it would make a big difference. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1350,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions\/1350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The minister has said that 90% of the country\u2019s 22\u202f381 public schools are in fair to very good<\/a> condition, while the remaining 2\u202f240 schools are still classified as being in poor or very poor condition. The basic education department cited delays in construction and poor contractor performance, municipal red tape, recurring natural disasters and chronic underfunding as reasons for the bad condition of schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"