AMID the furore over the Western Cape education department’s proposals to close down 27 schools in the province, MEC Donald Grant on Tuesday announced that 72 schools — 26 new ones and 46 replacement schools — would be built in the province in the next three years.
The African National Congress (ANC) in the province, together with other groups including lobby group Equal Education, has vehemently opposed a proposal to close 27 underperforming schools in the province.
The ANC Youth League in the province has organised two marches to Premier Helen Zille’s office, demanding, among others, that the province scrap its plan to close down the schools, which are mostly situated in rural areas.
"The department has finalised a three-year plan for infrastructure that includes a shift in infrastructure spend in the direction of maintenance and the building of new schools," Mr Grant said on Tuesday.
He said that the three largest allocations of this budget would be spent on new school buildings, replacement schools and on maintenance.
In terms of maintenance, he said, the plan envisaged raising maintenance expenditure from its current 17% of the overall infrastructure budget to 40%.
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