Cape Town - While welcoming the identification of a site to construct a new technical high school in the Mossel Bay area, provincial ANC education spokesperson Khalid Sayed has asked the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to provide more clarity about the quintile level of the new school.
Sayed was speaking after a briefing by the department to the education standing committee. The committee had been invited specifically to speak about the construction of new schools in Mossel Bay.
“As we know, Mossel Bay is a really poor community and we need those pupils from those families to be given an opportunity to attend this particular school.
“Generally the technical school speaks to the need for job creation in the area as it is specific to the kind of industries operating in Mossel Bay. It will give young people a future, which is important, but we want much more detail to be given and a speeded-up planning process,” said Sayed.
In his presentation to the committee, WCED Physical Resources Planning and Property Management director Gerrit Coetzee said the property where the school would be built was in the Heiderand area of Mossel Bay, and was accessible to the broader Mossel Bay community.
He said two other piece of land had been identified as possible options to construct a primary school in the Asla Park area, but that further investigation was needed to ultimately determine the final location of this future school.
Meanwhile committee chairperson Lorraine Botha (DA) wanted to know why the department had decided to build a technical high school and not a regular high school, and why there couldn’t be one of each.
WCED Infrastructure chief director Leslie McGlen said there was every possibility that it could end up being a school with both a technical stream and an academic one.
“We don’t have many technical schools in the province, and therefore we are trying to have a better spread and representation for technical schools.
Committee member Galil Brinkhuis (Al Jama-ah) suggested that the department consider adding a couple of years to the high school curriculum to equip students who might not get to university with skills and knowledge to get jobs in the fourth industrial revolution.