A sharp increase in learner enrolments at an uMlalazi, Eshowe, primary school creating a critical
classroom shortage has been alleviated following a recent donation of five mobile classrooms, valued
at R995 000.
Ekuphakameni Primary School, located in uMlalazi, some 10 km outside the northern KwaZulu-Natal
town of Eshowe, started life with just 20 learners, but today caters to almost 1 000 children.
The South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) recently stepped in, providing the school with
desperately needed classrooms.
Organisational representative, Mr. Gaff Osman, said of the financial assistance: “This is a school
lacking the most basic infrastructural requirements necessary for any educational institution, such as
a functional library, hall, administrative centre, permanent toilets, and the like.”
“However, its most pressing problem is that of a critical shortage of classrooms to accommodate a
rapidly-growing intake of learners from its catchment area, desperate for primary school education.”
“The school’s staff members have achieved much and work in the most trying of circumstances. The
school has long-recognized the dire shortage of classrooms and its impact on the learning ability of
its learners, but financial challenges prevented it from effectively addressing its ever-growing
appropriate infrastructure problem,” Mr Osman added.
The school’s plight thus went unheeded, while continued struggling to provide the educational needs
of a historically disadvantaged community.
“South Africa’s youth, especially those at the primary school level, deserve every educational and
developmental advantage, no mater their socio-economic circumstances. In view of the need for
facilities to assist the school and its learners, the SAMCT was pleased to contribute to its cause by
sponsoring the five required mobile classrooms,” Mr Osman said.
He said it was vital that the area’s disadvantaged children be afforded appropriate facilities in which
to learn, seting the foundation for the rest of their school careers and improving their prospects for
future employment.
The SAMCT was created in 2008, the result of a partnership between Old Mutual Unit Trusts and Al
Baraka Bank, for the creation, marketing, and distribution of a suite of Shariah Funds.
The organization provides funding, services, and other resources for the improvement of the lives of
the vulnerable, deprived, and disadvantaged. It has been singularly successful in delivering sizeable
assistance solutions throughout South Africa – irrespective of race or religion – and continues to work
to support needy organisations in the fields of social development, poverty alleviation, healthcare,
and education.
Mr Osman said: “The SAMCT was privileged to be in a position to sponsor a school which so clearly
recognises the importance of a proper education for its learners. These learners desperately needed
and deserved a roof over their heads.”
“Our classrooms donation will, I believe, contribute significantly to the school’s ability to now foster a
more conducive teaching and learning environment.”