21 Mar 2024

Ipelegeng Junior Secondary School in Lobatse is overdue for cyclic maintenance and it will be attended to in NDP12, Parliament has learnt.

Minister of Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe told Parliament that the school last received cyclic maintenance in 2013/2014 financial year, but continued to receive routine minor maintenance on an annual basis.

For example, he said, in 2020/2021 the dining hall and kitchen were refurbished at the sum of P400 000.

Furthermore, he said, the school was provided with P100 000 or more annually for minor maintenance and that the school would be provided with more funds as budgets permit in 2024/25 financial year.

Dr Letsholathebe acknowledged that the school was in a poor state but however, stated that the minor maintenance that was provided annually helped address critical issues.

“My Ministry is concerned about the condition of school infrastructure nationally. A rapid conditional assessment has been conducted in all secondary schools to identify infrastructure deficiencies,” he said.

In that regard, he said the ministry intended to source significant additional maintenance funding, and if successful, the funds would address all needs over a five year plan from 2024 – 2029.

MP for Lobatse, Dr Thapelo Matsheka had asked the minister to state when maintenance was last done at Ipelegeng Junior Secondary School.

He wanted to know when the next cycle of maintenance for the school would be, whether the ministry considered the state of the school conducive to appropriate learning by the pupils.

Dr Matsheka further asked whether the ministry considered the state of schools infrastructure a national issue and what the minister planned to do about it. ENDS