Saint-Gobain makes a difference in the lives of local pupils
Mvelaphanda Primary School in Tembisa has 850 pupils who currently make do with limited ablution facilities.
Saint-Gobain has partnered with the Adopt-a-School Foundation to identify schools in local communities that need additional facilities to enhance education.
One such school is the Mvelaphanda Primary School in Tembisa, which has 850 pupils who currently make do with limited ablution facilities.
Saint-Gobain SA is committed to improving educational habitats in 2015, which is part of the company’s global, 350 year anniversary campaign initiatives.
They are funding the building of a modern, safe and hygienic ablution facility consisting of eight girls toilets and eight boys toilets, a handicapped toilet and five wash basins in each bathroom.
In the company’s pledge to assist the school by building an ablution facility that will adequately service the school and needs of the young pupils, Saint-Gobain is making a significant financial contribution to the construction, supplying building products and training laborers to install Saint-Gobain products correctly, to ensure the facility is of a high standard.
“It doesn’t stop there,” said Mr Alec Galanakis, the Saint-Gobain PAM commercial manager.
“Saint-Gobain has also offered to donate two of our manufactured cast iron pots to the school’s recently-built kitchen, and we are supplying sophisticated products for the sound insulation in one of the school’s largest classrooms,” he said.
In addition, Saint-Gobain employees are making a difference on a personal level by contributing school uniforms, shoes, toys, stationery and food that they have collected, to the school.
“We have received an incredible response from our local partners, and are most grateful to The Build It group and Buco who have made a sizable contribution towards the project. The new facility will make a huge difference to the sanitation, hygiene and overall functioning of the school, and not to mention lifting the morale of the pupils,” he said.
The construction phase of the new facility is currently underway and is expected to be completed by mid-October to coincide with the global Saint-Gobain 350 anniversary celebration on October 15.
A ceremonial ground-breaking event was arranged by Saint-Gobain and hosted at the school on May 13.
It was attended by senior Saint-Gobain executives and directors, not only from the local office, but from abroad.
Representatives from the education department and the school governing body were also in attendance to witness the official start of the building.
The Mvelaphanda Primary School is one of three projects in South Africa that Saint-Gobain is committed to uplifting in 2015, as part of the company’s local 350 anniversary celebration initiatives.
At the Inyonemhlophe Secondary School in Isipingo, Kwazulu-Natal, a new kitchen facility is currently being built and the Sonwaba Primary School in Gugulethu in the Western Cape will see two new classrooms added to the school.
All the projects are due for completion in mid-October this year.
