Infrastructure Requirements

General Principle

An accredited school must maintain, throughout the accreditation cycle, the physical infrastructure declared in its application and approved by the Accreditation Committee. Reduction in infrastructure without prior written approval constitutes a breach of the WEQSC framework.

Infrastructure is verified through the annual compliance audit. Where audit identifies a deficiency, the school is subject to the remediation ladder set out in the Accountability section of this portal.

All infrastructure must comply with the building, fire, and public health requirements of the local education authority. Where local requirements are silent, the standards set out in this page apply.

General Physical Requirements (All Schools)

Classrooms

The school must provide at least one classroom per forty students enrolled in the classes proposed for accreditation, or such lesser number as corresponds to the school's actual student-teacher ratio, whichever is lower.

Each classroom must have:

• Adequate natural or artificial lighting;
• Adequate ventilation;
• Seating for the number of students assigned to it;
• A teaching surface visible to all students.

Library

The school must maintain a functional library or resource centre containing not fewer than five hundred volumes, including reference works supporting the WISE Curriculum Framework.

The library must be accessible to students during school hours.

Sanitation

The school must provide:

• Clean drinking water;
• Functional sanitation facilities, with separate facilities for male and female students;
• Hand-washing facilities.

Facilities must be maintained in working order at all times.

Safety

The school must maintain:

• Fire extinguishers appropriate to the risks in each area;
• A first-aid kit in a prominent and accessible location;
• Clearly marked emergency exits;
• Unobstructed exit routes.

Exit routes must not be locked or blocked during school hours.

Computing

The school must have at least one computing device capable of running a current browser, and at least one designated member of staff competent to operate the Institution Management Portal.

Laboratory Requirement for Upper Qualification Levels

NON-NEGOTIABLE REQUIREMENT

A school offering qualification levels requiring laboratory provision must maintain three separate, fully equipped, and functional science laboratories: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. The three laboratories must be distinct rooms; combined or shared laboratories do not satisfy this requirement. No exemption, alternative pathway, or partial provision is permitted. A school unable to maintain all three laboratories may only hold accreditation at lower qualification levels.

Physics Laboratory

The Physics Laboratory must be equipped to support the full range of practical experiments prescribed in the WISE Curriculum Framework, spanning measurement, mechanics, properties of matter, heat, sound, optics, electricity, and electronics.

The laboratory must include, at minimum:

• Vernier callipers, screw gauges, and spherometers;
• Simple pendulums, helical springs, and associated apparatus;
• Resonance tubes, sonometers, and calorimeters;
• Metre bridges, potentiometers, galvanometers, ammeters, voltmeters, and resistance boxes;
• Rheostats, battery eliminators, plug-in keys, and connecting wires;
• PN junction diode apparatus and digital multimeters.

Safety Requirements: The Physics Laboratory must have electrical safety equipment, including insulated tools and a residual-current device or equivalent protection on all bench circuits. All electrical fittings must be periodically checked. The laboratory must have a first-aid kit, an eye-wash facility, and a fire extinguisher of a type suitable for electrical fires.

Chemistry Laboratory

The Chemistry Laboratory must be equipped to support the full range of practical experiments prescribed in the WISE Curriculum Framework, spanning basic laboratory technique, purification and characterisation, pH measurement, chemical equilibrium, titration and volumetric analysis, salt analysis, and surface chemistry.

The laboratory must include, at minimum:

• Beakers, test tubes, boiling tubes, conical flasks, and round-bottom flasks;
• Burettes, pipettes, volumetric flasks, measuring cylinders, and pipette fillers;
• Bunsen burners, spirit lamps, water baths, and hot plates;
• Buchner funnels, filter funnels, watch glasses, clay triangles, crucibles, and desiccators;
• pH meters, pH paper, indicator solutions, electronic balances, and chemical spoons.

Chemical Storage: All chemicals must be stored in properly labelled containers, with the name, concentration, hazard classification, and date of receipt recorded. Hazardous chemicals must be kept in locked cupboards. Chemical storage must be segregated by compatibility class. The school must maintain a chemical inventory register, recording receipt, use, and disposal of every hazardous substance.

Safety Requirements: The Chemistry Laboratory must have a fume hood or equivalent fume-extraction provision where volatile substances or concentrated acids are handled. It must have an eye-wash station or portable eye-wash bottle, a safety shower where feasible, and a fire blanket. It must have spill-control material appropriate to the chemicals stored, and a labelled waste container for chemical waste, segregated by compatibility class.

Biology Laboratory

The Biology Laboratory must be equipped to support the full range of practical experiments prescribed in the WISE Curriculum Framework, spanning microscopy, temporary and permanent slide preparation, dissection, physiological experiments, and soil and water analysis.

The laboratory must include, at minimum:

• Compound microscopes, stereo/dissection microscopes, and digital microscope cameras;
• Microscope slides, cover slips, and prepared slides;
• Dissection kits, dissection trays, and preserved specimens;
• Anatomical models;
• Laboratory analytical balances, petri dishes, test tubes, beakers, and measuring cylinders;
• Soil test kits, water analysis kits, and stain solutions.

Safety Requirements: The Biology Laboratory must have hygiene and disinfection provisions, including a hand-wash station, disinfectant, and appropriate waste disposal for biological material. Where dissection is performed, the laboratory must have a designated dissection area with adequate ventilation, and a protocol for the safe disposal of biological waste.

General Laboratory Safety Infrastructure

Every laboratory must have:

• Safety goggles (indirect-vented or splash-resistant, one per active student plus 10% spare);
• Lab coat or chemical apron (full-sleeve, flame-resistant where open flame is used);
• Task-appropriate gloves (nitrile for chemical tasks; heat-resistant for hot apparatus);
• First-aid kit (stocked, prominently located, contents checked termly);
• Eye-wash station or bottle (accessible within ten seconds' travel);
• Fire extinguisher (correct type for the laboratory, current inspection tag);
• Fire blanket (accessible near exit);
• Spill-control material (appropriate to substances used, for Chemistry and Biology);
• Waste segregation containers (labelled, segregated by waste class, for Chemistry and Biology);
• Emergency exit signage (illuminated where required by local code);
• Safety rules notice (displayed prominently);
• Experiment list notice (current syllabus practicals);
• Inspection register (recording periodic checks of safety equipment).

Laboratory Supervision

Each laboratory must be placed under the supervision of a designated Laboratory In-Charge, who is responsible for maintenance, safety, inventory, and compliance.

The Laboratory In-Charge must hold, at minimum, a bachelor's degree in the relevant science subject, and must have completed the WEQSC laboratory safety induction within ninety days of appointment.

Practical sessions must be conducted under the direct supervision of a qualified teacher. Students may not be left unattended in a laboratory at any time.

No Alternative Pathways

WEQSC does not recognise virtual laboratories, remote laboratories, simulation-only provision, or shared facilities as satisfying the laboratory requirement. The requirement is one of substance: students must have physical access to functioning laboratories, with the equipment specified, in order to undertake the practical component of the WISE Curriculum Framework.

A school that cannot maintain all three laboratories may surrender its upper-level accreditation and continue at lower qualification levels.

Inspection and Deficiency Remediation

Laboratory infrastructure is inspected at the annual audit. The inspection covers equipment inventory, safety infrastructure, and storage arrangements.

Where the audit identifies a deficiency in laboratory infrastructure, the deficiency is classified under the audit finding categories, and the remediation ladder applies.

A deficiency that renders a laboratory non-functional for the delivery of the practical syllabus constitutes a Major Finding. A deficiency that creates an immediate risk to student safety constitutes a Critical Finding.

Where a laboratory is non-functional, the school must notify WEQSC within seven days and must submit a remediation plan within thirty days.

Conclusion

The infrastructure requirements set out in this page are the physical foundation on which the delivery of the WISE Curriculum Framework depends. All infrastructure procedures not expressly set out in this portal must follow the Secretariat's official bylaws.