Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative restores dignity to Portia Primary School
Portia Primary School was established in 1969 on a former dairy farm and until very recently consisted entirely of prefabricated buildings. The school principal, Rona September, who has been at the school for 36 years as a learner and then as an educator, recalls that the school administration has been attempting to secure a brick and mortar structure since 1995.
The school is one of 510 schools identified as one of the beneficiaries of the Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative and on 31 October 2014, Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Enver Surty, was on hand to officially hand the school over to the community.
The school now boasts 23 regular classrooms, four specialist classrooms, two Grade R classrooms, a kitchen, multi-purpose hall and administration block, all set in a modern, state-of-the-art facility.
The school was constructed at a cost of R44 million and is fully equipped to ensure that the 636 learners at Portia Primary School are able to learn and play in a safe, modern environment.
Speaking at the official handover, Deputy Minister Mohamed Surty highlighted the importance of a strong community.
“Without a strong community to provide the necessary support, a school cannot operate at optimal levels,” said the Deputy Minister. “Schools are more than just academics and learning. They play a role in building a responsible, integrated society and create opportunities for every child to reach their full potential.”
These sentiments were shared by the school principal, who hailed Portia Primary as a “proudly South African school”.
“Even when our previous school was falling apart around us, the staff at the school never wavered and we have a proud record, culturally, academically and on the sports field,” said September.
“There are so many proud memories associated with our previous building, but as we watched the progress of the new building, our excitement grew as we knew we would be creating generations of new memories with this new and improved school.”
Portia Primary is the fifth ASIDI school to be handed over in the Western Cape, out of a total of 82 such schools completed nationally.
