New school inspires dreams of matric excellence

Gauteng is on a mission to provide quality educational facilities in areas that were previously underserviced. The recent school to be built in Soweto cost R57 million.

Top matric results are the goal of Protea Glen Secondary School principal Linda Molefe.

The school, recently opened by Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, has state-of-the-art equipment, 28 classrooms, an admin block, two science labs, one smart multi-purpose room, a computer lab and a library, among other features.

“When the school is fully equipped, the pupils will be able to connect to the media centre for their research,” Molefe said.

He said the school currently has 223 pupils who are all in Grade Eight and eight teachers.

The school offers subjects such as IsiZulu, TshiVenda, XiTsonga, English, Mathematics, Life Sciences and other subjects.

“We want to see good, progressive results in Grade 12,” he said.

“The community has highly appreciated the school as it is closer to homes and a feeder primary school,” said Molefe.

At the recent opening, MEC Lesufi said: “We are proud to present this mega school to the people of Protea Glen and plead with the community to protect this school for many generations; we will continue to open more such schools in our quest to change the face of township schools.”

Over 13 new brick-and-mortar schools have been opened since 2015. The department is on a quest to improve and transform the quality of education in townships through the building of modern schools.

The Protea Glen school created 356 jobs and used 34 local sub-contractors.

The school falls into the mega school category due its size, which responds to the demand trends encountered across the province. Gauteng has around 1 200 learners from Grade 8 to Grade 12.

It is also a green school – meaning it has roof insulation to reduce energy loss from the buildings, windows and openings that maximise natural light and air circulation into the building and reduce energy loss and insulated walls for heat conservation and sound-proofing.