In 2019, learners of the Rivoni School for the Blind blocked the R578 and D3831 road leading to Elim, demanding, among other things, better school infrastructure. The complaints were that some of the learners had to attend class in stuffy mobile classrooms, which did not provide a conducive learning and teaching environment, while they had to stay in dilapidated hostels.
In its budget speech on 31 March 2022, the Department of Basic Education announced the allocation of R 1,534 billion for infrastructural development, and Rivoni School for the Blind is listed as one of the schools to benefit from it.
Tidimalo Chuene, the spokesperson for Limpopo's Department of Education, said that R168 million had been allocated for development at Rivoni. A contractor, Clear Choice Builders, was awarded the contract and work started in June 2021. The project is expected to be completed by 24 June 2024. According to the Limpopo MEC for Education, Polly Boshielo, construction work at the school is currently at 40% completion.
The development at Rivoni includes staff rooms/offices, a dining hall, kitchen with laundry facilities, two houses for the hostel managers, a recreational area, one administration block, two classroom blocks, one workshop, a laboratory (consisting of four workshops and four labs), two toilet blocks, four hostels for the learners and a gatehouse.