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Sluggish progress in respect of infrastructural repairs and upgrades of Karoo-Hoogland Combined School’s hostel in Victoria West, must be urgently addressed.

With four years having passed since a fire gutted part of the hostel, it is worrying that contractors have only recently come on site to address damages, let alone conduct routine maintenance and upgrades, which are not included in the contractor’s specs.

During an oversight inspection to the school hostel last week, it was evident that learners are being exposed to high-risk situations. Bathroom facilities are dilapidated and unsanitary, compelling children to bathe in buckets. The kitchen is also outdated, with old equipment posing a further fire hazard, while the cold room is mouldy and a lack of cleanliness is presenting an obvious health threat.

The hostel has a maximum capacity of 200 borders, although it is currently accommodating less learners. Learners from surrounding rural areas are dependent on hostel accommodation to access schooling and more desirable living conditions would much better serve them.

It cannot be that children continue to become casualties of the Department of Education’s inefficient management of its budget, which should have seen the department prioritising hostel repairs years ago.

I will write to the MECs of Education and Roads & Public Works, and also refer the matter to the DA’s provincial spokesperson of Education, to push for hastened repairs, in addition to further upgrades, at the school hostel.

Government needs to do more to guarantee the health, safety and wellbeing of learners who are being entrusted into the care of the department.

Issued by Fawzia Rhoda, MPL - Constituency Head of Bo-Karoo