After 43 years, Valencia Combined School has a school hall. The community and local principals came out to celebrate this historical moment with the school on Friday.

The hall was named after former principal, Siva Pillay. According to the acting principal, Shadrack Mohlala, the school managed to raise the funds with the help of various stakeholders.

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“Local businesses, teachers, the community and parents came together to raise the funds that were needed,” he said.
Mohlala said the hall was started before he was acting principal and it took three principals to get it to where it is now.

“The building started when Pillay was the principal. The principal after him, Daryl Moonsamy, continued with the project and he took it up to the roof, and when I came, the fencing, paving, electricity and the final touches were completed,” he said.

Mohlala said the hall will make a great impact on the school, “We have subjects that sometimes have cultural activities, and when it is hot it used to be hard for learners to do those activities outside in the sun.

“The weather was not the only thing that affected them. Some felt uncomfortable participating when people were watching. We will now be able to have school events in the hall and on Mondays we can have our school assembly, even when it rains. This will also help with raising revenue through renting out the hall to the public,” he explained.

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On the day of the event, Musa Linkwati, the keynote speaker, announced that the administration area of the school will be named after another former principal, Victor Masher, and a block of classrooms in the school was named after Moonsamy.

“In the future we will also name an area after the current acting principal,” said Linkwati.

Mohlala added that as the school they appreciate all the assistance they received from everyone that played a role in the hall project.