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The Gauteng education department is putting some of its abandoned schools to use, spending millions of rands on turning them into hi-tech, specialised institutions.
The plan will see 20 deserted schools throughout the province converted into schools that will provide training in the types of technical skills needed in the areas in which they are situated.
Schools in central Johannesburg will teach engineering subjects and information and communications technology (ICT); in Ekurhuleni they will focus on aviation; in Pretoria they will home in on the motor sector; and those on the West Rand will teach skills required in tourism, agriculture and water industries.
The first ICT and engineering school to open will be the revamped Fontanus Comprehensive Secondary School, which Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi will inaugurate next week in Emdeni, Soweto.
The school, which closed because its teachers were below par and it had too few learners to be viable, has undergone an R80 million face-lift. It boasts amenities that will be the envy of its neighbours: a modern soccer field; a tennis, basketball, netball and volleyball combi-court; a workshop; and a library.
Lesufi took City Press on a tour of the school this week, showing off the brand-new classrooms, which all have interactive and smart boards, and their own attached offices that will be the class teacher’s workspace.
The workshops will be fitted with the engines of a helicopter, a Caterpillar payloader and even a Boeing 737 aircraft. The school’s communications infrastructure has been sponsored by Telkom, and the students will be able to tinker with a gearbox supplied by Nissan.
The administration block comprises offices, kitchens, a boardroom, a small conference centre and toilets.
“This is a prototype of the township school. It will be hi-tech; no books or chalk,” said Lesufi.
“We want to restore dignity to township schools. We want former model C schools to compete for learners with these schools.
“Some of the model C schools do not have these facilities ,” he said, adding that township residents should get used to the idea of having first-class facilities right where they live.
The new technical schools would only employ the best and most qualified teachers, he said. “We are focusing on hiring university graduates with honours degrees. We do not want people who were born before technology, who will struggle with hi-tech facilities and infrastructure.”
Construction on the school in Ekurhuleni, which will focus on skills required in the aviation industry, is set to begin later this year in Rhodesfield. “Mining is dead and we have to come up with new ideas to have a competitive edge as a province. We also do not want to teach our kids bricklaying; we want to teach them engineering,” said Lesufi.
Unlike its neighbours, the school will have tight security and 24-hour armed response. “This is a big investment and we cannot leave it to chance,” said Lesufi.
Outside the classroom, pupils at Fontanus will focus on football. Lesufi said similar schools would have Olympic-sized swimming pools and focus on swimming, cricket, rugby and other sports.
Besides the 20 schools being converted, Lesufi said 13 others, similar to Fontanus, were being built from scratch.
