Media Release
Minister of Education Debbie Schäfer
Western Cape

18 June, 2015

Brand new R54 million Khanya Primary School set for completion in Philippi.

Joint statement by Minister Debbie Schafer and Minister Donald Grant

Today, Minister Schäfer and Minister Grant visited the new Khanya Primary School building in Phillippi which is to be completed at the end of this month at the cost of R54 million. We are both pleased and excited to see this brand new school at the final stages of the project.

The learners at Khanya Primary School have been temporarily accommodated at the former Buckingham Primary School building in Mitchell's Plain since 2006, after vacating the Ottery Youth Centre buildings that had been utilised since 2004 when the school was established.

The building of this school has required the participation and cooperation of the Western Cape Departments of Education and Transport and Public Works.

The construction of the new school commenced in March 2014, and it will open its doors to learners at the start of the new term.

The new school will consist of:

• 28 classrooms,

• 2 grade R classrooms,

• 2 specialist rooms for art and music,

• An administration block and school sick bay,

• A kitchen,

• A computer room, school hall, library, and two specialist rooms,

• A sportsfield and 2 physical training and playing surfaces.

Khanya Primary School will accommodate learners who mainly reside in the Heinz Park, Samora Machel and Phillippi areas.

The school has already received a top-up furniture delivery and the relocation of the school's existing furniture to the new premises from the current premises will take place during the July school holiday period.

The WCED invests heavily in school infrastructure to improve the quality of our schools teaching and learning spaces as well as to meet the demands for schooling in the province.

As the implementing agent for the WCED, the Department of Transport and Public Works, for the 2015/2016 financial year, will spend R1.427 billion on the building and the refurbishing of school infrastructure across the province. Khanya Primary School is one of many schools earmarked for completion within this financial year.

This year will see the completion of eleven new schools, while an extra fifteen are under construction.

In addition, thirty-eight WCED and ASIDI funded replacement schools are being either built or completed in this financial year.

The Department of Transport and Public Works' project team has done exceptionally well to deliver a state-of-the-art facility within budget the required time and budget, and ready for the start of the new school term. The R54 million Khanya Primary School project has employed 156 labourers from the local community, providing on-site training in bricklaying and carpentry. Of the total R4.8 million spent on labour, R3.9 million (over 80%) was spent on local labour. We are pleased to have delivered a school that the community can be proud of, and its learners can thrive in, which is in line with the Western Cape Government's Provincial Strategic Goal 2, to improve education outcomes and opportunities for youth development.

We hope that this new school will be transformed into an institution of teaching and learning, where learners, educators and parents in this case, are safe and secure, and where quality learning can take place.

Minister Schafer will visit the school in the 3rd term, once learners and educators have settled in and looks forward to seeing the school become a hub of exciting activity and community engagement.

Media enquiries:
Jessica Shelver
Spokesperson for the Minister of Education, Debbie Schäfer
Western Cape Education Department
Tel: 076 175 0663
 
Siphesihle Dube
Spokesperson for the Minister of Transport and Public Works, Donald Grant
Tel:084 233 3811