New hope for schools in the Western Cape as SAME Foundation invests over R5m

A new sense of hope and exuberance could be seen on the faces of guests and dedicated teachers as they made their way towards the school hall for the official handover of the Manyano High School. One also simply couldn’t miss hearing the hope in the voices of the school choir as they sang songs, danced and rejoiced.

The S.A Medical & Education Foundation (SAME) in partnership with various corporate donors has raised just over 5 million Rands to improve the quality of education in four disadvantaged schools in the Western Cape. Maynano High School in Khayalitsha, Woodlands High in Mitchells Plain, ID Mkhize High School in Gugulethu and Zimasa Primary School in Langa were the four schools identified in dire need of maths, science and technology infrastructure and resources. In total, five science labs, three maths classes, one computer lab and lavatories were established, giving close to 5000 pupils access to state-of-the-art facilities that will enable them to excel academically.

In a keynote speech given by the Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Mr Mohamed Enver Surty, he spoke about the importance of maths and technology and giving pupils the necessary tools that will prepare and enable them and the country to participate in the fourth industrial revolution. The Honourable Deputy Minister also touched on the importance of partnership in the education environment and taking a transcendental leap into technology. “What we realised at the Department of Education as a collective with all the provinces included, is that in order to achieve quality education there’s two fundamentals that will not change, the ability to read with understanding and the ability to calculate.” The Minister ended his keynote by commending the various stakeholders and teachers and touched on the progress of the education system “I don’t think we can say that we have achieved excellence in the education system, but what we can say quite infallibly is that we have moved away from mediocrity. For the first time last year we were able to say that South Africa has achieved above the mean in literacy and numeracy in all nine provinces”

CEO of SAME Foundation, Trevor Pols expressed his gratitude to all the stakeholders in a closing remark and had a walk through the school with the guests and media to view the new infrastructure and resources. “We have already identified five new schools in the Western Cape that we will be renovating and equipping with resources in the new year.” ended Pols.