VANDERBIJLPARK.- It is said that huge chunks of learning, and teaching time, have been lost because the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) has failed to complete a project which was supposed to have taken a year to finish, the project is now in its 18^th month.

Learners are said to be sitting in temporary classrooms, subjected to extreme heat resulting in nose bleeds in summer and extremely cold weather conditions in winter. The results being a serious threat to both the learners’ and teachers’ lives.

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Nicola Du Plessis, a member of the Portfolio Committee on Infrastructure Development said that the project is running over deadline because GDID and the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) did not do a proper assessment of the scope of work that was required for the refurbishment and renovation of the school.

“A project that was supposed to be completed already now has several classrooms being gutted and still standing without roofs and floors because of a lack of proper assessments before the contracts were awarded.”

Du Plessis further said that the school hall is currently being used as a staff room, and for administration purposes, while the administration block is also not completed. A place where children should be educated and be allowed to run, and play has seen children breaking their legs because the premises is a dangerous building site.

“The quality of education of this school has also been severely compromised by the building activity that has seen this school being declared an underperforming school. It is a disgrace that the MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi and the MEC for Infrastructure Development, Tasneem Motara are not stepping in to address the lack of commitment from project managers to complete critical infrastructure projects on time.”

At the time of going to print Sedibeng Ster was awaiting response from both the Gauteng Department of Education and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development