Question No. 563
Mr JRB Lorimer (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
Whether all (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each of the provinces have (i) libraries and (ii) media/computer centres; if not, (aa) why not, (bb) which schools are they, (cc) how many learners are there at each school and (dd) when will they obtain these facilities; if so, how many teachers are qualified to teach computers to learners in each province?
Reply:
a. Not all primary and secondary schools have libraries and computer or media centres and the number of schools without the spaces per province is indicated below.
(aa) The absence of libraries and laboratories in the majority of our schools is an indication of the historical inequalities that were fostered mainly through unequal distribution of education resource inputs. The physical teaching and learning environment (school infrastructure and basic services) has historically been one of the most visible indicators of inequitable resource inputs.
(bb) The schools are numerous to list on this response hence a summary of the number of schools per province per primary and secondary school is listed below.
(cc) See response above.
(dd) Spending on infrastructure has grown significantly since the late 1990’s and provinces have made significant progress in reducing infrastructure backlogs which include libraries, computer centers and related facilities. Currently the budget for infrastructure is at R5.5 billion and will continue to increase over the medium term and reaches R9.4 billion in 2012/13. Provinces have indicated in their infrastructure plans a significant increase in the number of facilities that are going to be provided to reduce the backlog.
Issued by: Department of Basic Education
25 March 2010
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za/)
