Celebration as new Perivale Primary School buildings are opened

Statement by Minister David Maynier, Minister of Education Western Cape

This morning we celebrated the opening of the new Perivale Primary School buildings in Lotus River, and officially welcomed teachers and learners to the beautiful, state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities.

This is a replacement school which adds an extra 520 places for learners, for a total capacity of 1 240. It is a substantial improvement in functionality and safety over the old buildings. The new buildings were constructed alongside the original school site, which has now become the new sports field.

The project began in 2020, but was unfortunately subject to delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The contractors also faced intimidation by those attempting to put their personal gain ahead of the interests of our children.

This has become a pattern at our school build sites, and we applaud the community and the contractor for resisting these attempts to muscle in on the project.

It cannot be that we have to fight to be allowed to build safe, beautiful schools for our children. And I can promise you that I will take on anyone who tries to prevent us from building schools where they are desperately needed.

The total project cost is R86 million, which constitutes a major investment in the children of Lotus River and their future learning.

The school’s principal, Mr Zaahier Jacobs, said:

“The learners are enjoying the new facilities of our new school building! The infrastructural development and aesthetic enhancement of the new building has significantly contributed to an improvement in the performance of learners, learner attendance, and staff morale.”

The good news is that we are aiming to spend R830 million more on infrastructure this year, which is a 50.6% increase in spending on infrastructure in public ordinary schools. So we are looking forward to celebrating with other communities as we expand the number of places in our schools, and improve the quality of their learning environment.

We appeal to all communities to support this important work, so that together we can ensure that we provide quality education to every learner, in every classroom, in every school in the Western Cape.

Media Enquiries:
Kerry Mauchline
Spokesperson to Minister David Maynier
Western Cape Ministry of Education
Kerry.Mauchline@westerncape.gov.za