Edu programme to change lives of Lim learners

Anglo American’s ambitious education programme which was launched eighteen months ago in partnership with the Department of Basic Education is on track to improve the learning outcomes of more than 33 000 learners at 60 schools around its mining operations the Limpopo.
It was learnt that the Anglo American South Africa Education Programme is aimed to improve literacy, numeracy, Mathematics and English levels by addressing some of the underlying reasons for poor education outcomes which include supporting school management teams, school governing bodies (SGBs), principals and teaching staff. A further ten schools are being supported through a partnership with the Sishen Iron Ore Company Community Development Trust which is providing funding for ten schools and associated Early Childhood Development (ECD) sites in the region.
A statement issued by the company indicated that education non-government organisation ‘Save the Children South Africa’ has completed a situational analysis of many ECD sites around the 40 selected primary schools in Limpopo and the resulting interventions will be ready for implementation in some of these ECD sites in 2020. The next steps will be to provide training and coaching to ensure each institution has a sound school improvement plan that is owned and actively implemented by the governing body, management team, educators and student leaders, it was reported. Alldays Secondary School principal Andries Serumula was quoted to have said the school had seen almost immediate benefits from the advocacy and situational analysis and they were excited about the prospects of improving results in Mathematics and science through its involvement in the programme.
De Beers Group Senior manager for Social Impacts and Risks Josephine Pieters was quoted to have said: “We have made good progress in setting the programme up for success. A significant amount of time has gone into meeting directly with members of the SGB, educators and principals. This ground work is important to ensure that the programme makes a real and lasting difference to the lives of our learners in Limpopo.”
One of the pillars of the programme was to create thriving communities close to the company’s operations, with education as a key building block, it was learnt.
Head of social performance at Anglo American Platinum Ted Muhajir highlighted that when they launched the programme 18 months ago they shared a vision of building thriving communities with schools with highly motivated learners and educators, parents and effective school management teams to achieve a quality education. He reiterated that they were confident that they are well on the way to achieving their objective and making a real difference to the lives of thousands of learners.