An educator’s plea to schools to make them centres of care and support

Thandi Chaane, a Randburg resident, co-founder of the Read literacy programme and a former deputy Director General of Education in Gauteng, was the guest speaker at the 7th Thandulwazi Breakfast Forum hosted by Nedbank in Sandton on 30 October.

Chaane addressed the audience on the “basket of barriers” that continue to impact negatively on learning and the delivery of effective quality education in South Africa.

Chaane asserted that “education is a human right”, embedded in the country’s constitution, and argued that South Africans are “bonded by education.”

She made a plea for schools to become centres of “care and support” and “societal microcosms”, that dealt holistically with children and addressed the multiple barriers that impede learning in an all-inclusive way.

Over the last two years, the St Stithians Foundation, in partnership with the Nedbank Group Chair (Dr Reuel Khoza), has organised a series of Thandulwazi Breakfast Forums at which guests are given the opportunity to engage with a range of leading South Africans, who are at the forefront of educational thinking and leadership best practice.

Established in 2006, the Thandulwazi Maths and Science Academy is an educational intervention programme, aimed at improving the teaching and learning of key subjects – maths, sciences, accounting and English, in government schools across Gauteng.

Annually Thandulwazi offers extra tuition in core subjects to 1 000 FET learners (Grades 10, 11 and 12) at its Saturday School.

It provides a mentored, in-service training programme for more than 25 new intern teachers each year and offers up-skilling workshops and a professional development programme to 1100 educators from more than 600 schools, across Gauteng and Limpopo.

Beneficiaries of the Thandulwazi programmes are drawn mainly from poorly resourced schools, serving historically disadvantaged communities.

The programmes are hosted by St Stithians College and funded entirely by funding from corporates and donations from trusts and individuals.

Details: Bev Johnson St Stithians Foundation Director thandulwazi@stithian.com or 011 577 5193.