Mboweni boosts budget for Education

Charles Molele

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has allocated at least R30 billion to build new schools and to maintain its dire infrastructure in economically-depressed communities.

Addressing MPs in Parliament during his maiden budget speech, Mboweni said an additional R2.8 billion would be added to the School Infrastructure Backlog grant, in order to replace pit latrines at over 2,400 schools.  

This grant will also replace 147 inappropriate and unsafe schools, and provide water to 352 schools over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.

READ: Opposition: Mboweni’s budget speech ‘Uninspiring’

Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the ‘Sanitation Appropriate for Education’ initiative to deal with inadequate sanitation facilities at an estimated 4,000 schools with pit latrines in Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Mboweni also announced plans to financially support students at higher learning institutions.

“Over the medium term, government will spend R111.2 billion to ensure