School construction workers back on site

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06-12-2024
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The Citizen Online
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The contractor, White Leopard, started in August 2022 and the project is said to be completed by the end of January 2025.

Construction of the new school building for the Dome Combined School resumed on November 25, after an apparent wage dispute.

School personnel visited the construction site early in September, observing the progress made with great enthusiasm. By the end of September construction was 82% completed.

On October 25, the School Governing Body (SGB) however received devastating news from the consultant appointed by the Department of Public Works, informing them of the construction site being temporarily closed.

The contractor, White Leopard, started in August 2022 and the project is said to be completed by the end of January 2025.

The land where the school currently is situated was zoned for educational purposes way back in the seventies. The mobile classrooms were a temporary measure, and a permanent structure has been a need for a long time.

In 2020, engineers visited the the school premises and confirmed that the clay soil and wetland would make preparing the land and building too expensive. As safety and cost need to be considered, the decision was made to build on the premises on Fourth Avenue. The new school premises are situated on municipal grounds, earmarked for the building of the school as a joint project of the Department of Education, and the Department of Public Works.

Illegal dumping previously sullied the vacant lot, and the hope is that the development of the land would benefit the residential area.

For the 365 Grade R to Grade Nine learners, it will be a joyful day when temporary classrooms and the barren ground finally make way for a proper single-storey school building, a grassy playground, a soccer field, and a multi-purpose court. Having a school hall would also mean that the school could for the first time host concerts and functions on their own premises.

The school started in 2017 with 58 Grade R to Grade Three learners as an English medium school. At first, they were accommodated at the A.M. Lembede School in Tumahole.

A few months later, three temporary classrooms awaited them at their school premises in Loop- and Delver Streets. The initial three temporary classrooms quadrupled to 12.

The school principal, Wilna van Buren-Scheele, teachers, supporting personnel, and general workers did a splendid job over many years of bringing colour where there once was nothing.

Hopefully, these learners and personnel will soon be able to move to their new school building with 26 classrooms, an admin block, a media centre with a library, and a tuck shop