ASIDI continues with Sophumelela handover
The rollout of the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative in the Western Cape continued on Saturday 25 October 2014, with the handover of Sophumelela Secondary School.
The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, was accompanied by Western Cape Education MEC, Ms Debbie Schafer, as she officially handed the school over to the community of Samora Machel in Cape Town.
Sophumelela Secondary is the 5th ASIDI school to be handed over in the province, out of 7 completed in phase one of the programme which will see 11 schools constructed. The school has an enrolment of 1134 learners and was built at a cost of R44, 5 million. The school features 30 classrooms and eight specialist classrooms, which allow access to state of the art science, handwork and computer facilities.
The school features a number of innovative ‘green’ design elements such as rainwater collection tanks and features, which allow for more natural light to enter the school, thus making it more energy efficient.
Speaking at the handover, Minister Motshekga confirmed that the objective of ASIDI was to ensure that dignity is restored to education in communities around SA through the provision of quality education infrastructure.
“Education is the number one priority of government and it is a weapon to break the generational poverty we have in South Africa,” said the Minister.
“We are aiming to ensure that, in three to five years, all schools have the basic infrastructure, to create an environment which is conducive to learning and teaching.”
To achieve this, the national Department of Basic Education has implemented the ASIDI programme to replace schools built from inappropriate material in their entirety. The ASIDI programme is building an additional 14 schools in the second phase, in the Western Cape alone with 82 schools completed in total.
One of the spin off benefits of the programme is skills development and the Minister proudly presented certificates to some of the workers who received training during the project cycle.
