Umhlali High nearly on its way!

After a nine-year long battle, the KZN education department has finally agreed to build a high school in the greater Ballito area – if one final hurdle can be overcome.
Although many people have pleaded over the years for the provincial government to build a high school, it was finally the persistence of two determined women that tipped the hand of the education department.
This week Clare Swithenbank-Bowman and Carol Church of the Umhlali High School Stakeholders Committee were ecstatic when the department agreed to allocate funding for a school.
However, there is still one final hurdle to cross – buying the land.
Swithenbank-Bowman and Church have identified a suitable piece of land, some 10 hectares in size, close to the R102 between Ballito and Umhlali which they believe will make an ideal school site.
“The public works department has done a technical report on the land, investigating its suitability, and they have given us the green light,” said a delighted Swithenbank-Bowman.
She said this was a huge milestone in their campaign as the committee had considered numerous possible sites. However all were unsuitable for one reason or another. She said the committee had been in close consultation with the education department over the past two years.
“Our breakthrough was when we were granted a meeting with the education MEC in August 2011. Before then our efforts at a local level had been unsuccessful.
“However, a major potential stumbling block is that the land comes with a hefty price tag and if the education department’s offer is too low, the sale will fall through and we will be back where we started.”
Swithenbank Bowman said the committee was now praying for a miracle.“If there is an angel out there who would buy the land and donate it to the school we beg you to come forward. We have come so far and we are at such a critical stage. It would be a massive blow to the entire community to lose the high school at this stage. Our dream is to build an affordable, quality high school that will cater for our ever-growing community. Please help us make this a reality.”
She said Ballito and the Dolphin Coast community was in desperate need of affordable schooling.
“Only the minority can afford private schooling. The rest are forced to send their children to schools in Durban. When we did a survey of the parents at the main feeder school, Umhlali Preparatory, 82% of parents said they wanted a government high school in the area .”
Currently there are 910 children at Umhlali Preparatory, and the school is unable to cope with the demand, and under extreme pressure to provide for the growing community.
According to the municipality’s 2012 spatial development plan, the population is expected to double in the next 14 years (‘KwaDukuza to double in 15 years’, Courier, September 7, 2012).
At the time Iyer Urban Design senior planner Micheal Kahn said KwaDukuza was already one of the fastest growing municipalities in South Africa as a result of business and residential development moving north out of Durban.
For more information contact Clare on 074 103 8546 or at clareswithbankbowman@gmail.com.