An important aspect of providing improved access to education is the need for the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the extra numbers. Particularly with the Free Senior High School program, it was projected that 472,730 junior high school graduates would enrol in public senior high schools in the 2018/2019 academic year, a 30.7% increase from the 361,771 that enrolled in the 2017/18 academic year.
The gap analysis showed that we had to create an extra 181,993 spaces in senior high schools to absorb the extra numbers.
With a growing population that is predominantly young, it follows that as more children gain access to education, there is the need to invest in infrastructure at all levels in order to ensure a conducive learning environment prevails for quality outcomes.