Small-town SA has become an educational wasteland, littered with failing public schools. But a new breed of technical high school, founded on community and employer collaboration, offers the youth a way out. Towns across SA are sitting up and taking notice
The rural community of Bonnievale, about two hours from Cape Town in the Breede River Valley, is typical of small-town SA. There, poverty and unemployment smother the dreams and aspirations of many young people like a blanket of dust.
In SA, academic studies have found that of every 100 children who start school, 40 drop out before matric. Of the 37 who pass matric, only 12 go to university — and only six of those achieve an undergraduate qualification.
In Bonnievale the schooling situation was particularly dire. Though the town had 11 primary schools catering for about 2,500 pupils, it had just one public high school. So, for decades, about 200 pupils had to be bussed to high schools in neighbouring towns. The odds of them dropping out were staggeringly high. This fuelled youth unemployment, and social ills such as drug and alcohol abuse.
In 2016, a small group of concerned citizens got together, bound by faith and the common vision of creating a no-fee, zero-drop-out technical high school. They had in mind a centre of excellence that would provide high-demand skills and real job prospects to restore the self-worth of their children, including those teenagers who could barely read or write.
The Western Cape education department was sympathetic to Bonnievale’s plight, but the waiting list for towns needing new schools ran to 10 or more years. Alternatively, the group was told that if it could come up with 60% of the construction costs for a new school, the province would pay the other 40% and fund the running costs. They also had to identify a parcel of land, demonstrate community support, and present a long-term sustainable plan.
“Given the total estimated construction costs of about R85m for a school of 600 learners, the department probably thought they would never see us again,” says Wilhelm de Wet, a Bonnievale actuary and one of the trustees from the original group.
They had neither money nor land — but they did have a singular vision, and quality people who were deeply invested in the community. What followed was a huge community funding drive.
Through philanthropic donations the group obtained land that had been a wine farm. The town’s two rugby clubs, Bluebirds and Bonnievale United, gave up a weekend to rip out all the vines. The architect and professional building team provided their services pro bono, the heavy earth-moving equipment was donated, and the construction contractor did the job at cost.
As there was no large single funder, the bulk of the funding came from locals, in cash or in kind. There was even a scheme whereby people could contribute R2.50 at the local supermarket to buy a single brick.
Over the next four years the group raised R100m for the creation of the Jakes Gerwel Technical (JGT) school, with space for up to 1,000 pupils.
“We came from a very divided past where we were used to doing things separately,” says De Wet. “The school gave us an opportunity to do things together and we realised we shared the same dreams and passions for our children … [We] grew closer, to the point where we now trust each other.”
Another trustee, Philip Jonker, stresses that the school has not been created by the town’s haves for the have-nots.
“No, we all needed this school and each other,” he says. “We wanted to create a school that would change the character of the next generation. What we didn’t know was that we’d be the ones who’d go through the process of character formation. Seeing the miraculous happening — that was amazing. I think we’re all changed for life.”
The group managed to enrol 163 children before a single brick was laid, obtained building approval in just four months (it normally takes more than a year) and completed construction during a Cape winter in just six months, thanks to 2017 being the province’s driest year on record.
“Everyone could see it was a miracle. The timelines were incredible,” says De Wet. “But the biggest miracle was the changes in the children’s lives, from being desperate to having dreams and direction.”
Dubbed a no-fee ordinary public school, JGT is more aptly described as a collaboration school, where the public and private sectors together provide schooling that far exceeds the constraints of the public purse.
In return for contributing 60% of the building costs, the original founders (represented by the JGE Funding Trust, a public benefit organisation) were given half the seats on the governing body. Today, eight of the original 14 founders are still on board.
The government contributes the funding it would for a no-fee public school, but all staff are employed by the governing body. Private and corporate donations amounting to about R2.5m a year go towards funding the school’s budget shortfall and covering items such as school uniforms and general school improvements, and employing additional teachers to keep class sizes small.
Consequently, the governing body has greater autonomy, and the management and teaching are on a par with the best schools in SA.
“Our unique collaboration schools model creates the potential for schools to be constructed in partnership with the private sector, which caters for the specific educational needs of a local community, and which otherwise might not have been prioritised given the demand and budget constraints,” says Western Cape education minister David Maynier.
“This allows us to work hand-in-hand with the private sector to deliver quality education for every student in the Western Cape.”
From the outset, parents and business owners were consulted about what they wanted their children to learn, and what skills were needed in the area. This resulted in the school providing a unique offering made up of three different pathways based on pupils’ interests and abilities.
The first stream offers technical studies for those interested in going on to tertiary study, or starting their own businesses, in construction, engineering and other design-related fields.
The second stream encompasses agricultural technology and consumer studies, which includes animal and crop production.
The first two streams cover mainstream technical subjects, but the third leg, the “school of skills” stream, offers basic vocational training. In other parts of the province this type of public school is rare and reserved for children with the worst educational deficits, yet the vocational skills it confers offer pupils the best chance of employment after school.
JGT understands that up to nine out of 10 young South Africans try to find a job and make a living with only what they’ve learnt at school. But this is almost impossible for pupils equipped only with academic subjects such as history, geography, life sciences and maths literacy.
“Youth unemployment is so high in SA because our youth are unemployable,” says Augusta Brandt, a trustee who also serves on the parliamentary education council for the Western Cape.
“If you drop out of school in rural SA, it’s only a matter of time before your self-worth is completely crushed. Even if you have a matric certificate, you probably don’t have qualifications suited for the job market.”
About 40% of JGT’s pupils are enrolled in the school of skills stream, and it is this curriculum that has sparked the most hope in the community.
These students spend more than half their time in state-of-the-art workshops and training kitchens, and the rest in the classroom studying Afrikaans, English, basic maths and life skills. Their goal is to master artisanal skills such as wood- and metalwork, plumbing, welding, maintenance and construction, and food production.
Across all three streams the school offers a career-based curriculum that teaches high-demand skills aligned to local employer needs.
Its design is also different. For instance, it has an extended school day, starting at 7am and ending at 5pm. Two meals are provided (breakfast and lunch), all the main sporting codes are offered, and there are supervised homework and mentorship sessions. There is even a subsidised driving programme so every pupil graduates with a driver’s licence to increase their employability.
Exposure to the world of work is deemed vital, as the ultimate objective is to carve out a career for every child. To this end, pupils are taken on industry excursions and those in the school of skills stream undergo several weeks of practical job shadowing in their final two years of study.
“We take them places, expand their worlds, give them a taste of the workplace, and coach them on work ethics,” says Brandt.
The idea is that, through these excursions, the pupils start dreaming about possible careers at an early stage and gain an understanding as to what it will take to make those dreams a reality.
The school opened in January 2018, with 240 pupils across grades 8 and 9. Total enrolment is now at 620. The first cohort matriculated last year with an 81% pass rate across the academic stream. In the school of skills, 94% of the final-year class graduated with certificates in their respective skills.
“We do not stop looking out for our youth once they leave school, as many need assistance to take a sure next step, whether it is tertiary studies, learnerships, job-readiness programmes, upskilling, entrepreneurship, or employment,” says De Wet. “Many young people have been successfully placed and are still being mentored after leaving the school.”
Significant ongoing funding comes from local employers and community members, because the pupils’ skills are relevant to the local economy. The JGE Funding Trust has positioned itself as a broad-based BEE ownership vehicle. Several businesses are partnering with it to secure the school’s sustainability and contribute to the bigger vision of healing the community.
The ultimate ambition is to plant seeds of hope in communities across SA, inspiring them to stand up, take ownership of their children’s education and find solutions close to home.
The school has sparked so much interest that the trustees have appointed two full-time staff members, Brandt and Stefan Pieterse, to liaise with delegations from other towns who inquire about emulating the model.
They are in discussions with 17 communities, including in the Eastern Cape (Jeffreys Bay and Maletswai), Mpumalanga (Mbombela and Komatipoort), Northern Cape (Hopetown), as well as Ashton, Robertson, Ceres, Piketberg, Fisantekraal and other small towns in Western Province.
The trustees have also been involved in helping to get the Struisbaai School of Skills off the ground, with some of JGT’s recent school leavers even contributing during the construction phase. The school, which has capacity for 120 pupils, opened in January.
Pieterse, a Pretoria lawyer who has relocated to Bonnievale, emphasises that creating a collaboration school has to be a real community effort.
“You can’t allow it to be dominated by one big business or investor or personality or a group of professional people who are not part of the fibre of the community,” he says.
Unity is essential and politics must be kept out at all costs.
Brandt adds: “You need the private sector, government, and the community. If any one of the three isn’t there, it won’t work … You can have all the funding in the world but if you don’t have community buy-in it won’t work. You can’t bulldoze forward.”
The other crucial ingredient of success, Pieterse believes, is the quality of the core team.
“You need a visionary, someone to ask difficult questions, a do-er, and someone to glue them all together,” he says. “They should be from all walks of life and include highly skilled, influential but humble people with their roots in the community who’re prepared to devote their time, finances and lives to the school.”
Clearly, people of that calibre are few and far between, but De Wet firmly believes that if what happened in Bonnievale could be replicated more widely, it could solve SA’s problems.
“We have an opportunity in Bonnievale to create a shining example for the rest of the country not only to change this generation, but to make a huge impact on generations to come,” he says.
“We really believe this can change SA one community at a time, one child at a time, by educating our children in ways that will restore their self-worth and make them participants in the economy.”
First published:
https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/cover-story/2022-06-23-new-schooling-model-offers-hope/)
