Education
With regard to the presence of asbestos in schools in the province:(1) Whether there are any schools in the province that still contain asbestos in their infrastructure or building materials; if so, (a) how many such schools have been identified and (b) where they are located;(2) whether his department has conducted a provincial audit or assessment to determine the presence of asbestos in school buildings; if not, why not; if so, (a) when was the audit or assessment conducted and (b) what were the key findings;(3) whether his department has put in place any plans or programmes to remove or remediate asbestos from affected schools; if not, why not; if so, (a) what do these plans or programmes entail and (b) which schools have been prioritised for intervention;(4) whether there are (a) specific time frames and (b) budget allocations for the removal or replacement of asbestos infrastructure in schools in the province; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
My department has informed me of the following:
(1) In terms of national school infrastructure norms and standards reporting, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has identified 71 schools located across the province that have been built wholly or partially of inappropriate materials including asbestos. While we have a relatively small number of schools built with inappropriate materials compared to other provinces, we continue to work to replace these schools pending available budget.
The WCED prioritises schools for scheduled maintenance based on the overall condition of the school and focuses on maintaining functionality of
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the school. Should asbestos components be found as part of the scoping of the maintenance project, these components will be addressed in a compliant manner.
(2) See above.
(3) The WCED address asbestos components at schools through our scheduled maintenance programme. Schools get prioritised based on their overall condition.
(4) Schools are identified for preventative maintenance and upgrades based on their overall condition, not specifically asbestos components. It is noted that only broken asbestos components could pose a health and safety risk, and as such schools are encouraged to report any damaged or broken infrastructure via CEMIS to the WCED.
