MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday 13 February 2019
__________________________________________________________________________
A significantly under-resourced secondary school, at Chibini, outside Ixopo, deep in rural KwaZulu- Natal, now has a brand new and equipped administration block – replacing crumbling makeshift offices – and water on-tap, thanks to a more than R500 000 injection.
Sinevuso Secondary School’s plight was recently alleviated jointly by the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) and Al Baraka Bank.
Speaking at a function to mark the infrastructure hand-over, SAMCT representative, Mr Gaff Osman said: “A sound education is the right of every child in South Africa. But to deliver such education requires the appropriate infrastructure and support materials. The sad reality is that many of our country’s schools are significantly under-resourced. This is particularly prevalent in rural areas, such as this. The consequence of inferior educational institutions is that it becomes extremely difficult for teachers to impart their knowledge and for learners to absorb what they are being taught.”
Being a common problem and one which Government is unable to rectify alone, Mr Osman said it fell to charitable organisations and private sector businesses to step in and assist in making a positive difference.
He added that Sinevuso Secondary School, a Quintile 2 ‘no fees’ school serving a socio-economically deprived rural community, was severely under-resourced, but in spite of its setbacks, the staff and learners ‘do amazing work and achieve exceptional results under the most trying of circumstances.’
Originally a training centre, the facility was converted to a school in 1998, although no additional infrastructure was developed, with the exception of the construction of a few makeshift offices for use by the Principal, senior staff and teachers.
“This has been the norm for many years, in spite of being fundamentally unsustainable. Every school should be equipped with proper offices for the Principal and his team, as well as a staff room for use by teachers to complete administrative tasks, take their lunch and relax during breaks in the school day. The Principal and staff here have never had the opportunity to enjoy what many of their counterparts in other parts of the Province and country take for granted, until now,” Mr Osman said.
The SAMCT has also funded a borehole at the school, replacing the unreliable supply of municipal water, which had become unaffordable.
Mr Osman stressed: “Water is a basic need – regardless of one’s socio-economic standing and regardless of whether one is based in a rural or urban environment. Sinevuso Secondary School’s answer lay in sinking a borehole, ensuring a continuous, reliable source of this life-giving commodity. However, boreholes are expensive to install and it was, therefore, our pleasure – as the SAMCT – to reach out to Sinevuso Secondary School, paying for the sinking of a borehole, bringing to the school fresh water to overcome hygiene and sanitation challenges, as well as paving the way for the establishment of a school community garden, which will impact positively on the nutritional needs of learners here, as well as members of the broader community.”
The SAMCT was established in 2008 to provide funding, services and other resources for numerous deserving organisations and the associated upliftment of the lives of South Africa’s deprived, poverty-stricken and historically disadvantaged communities, irrespective of race or religion.
During the hand-over function, Al Baraka Bank, which has had a long association with Sinevuso Secondary School, playing a continuously active support role since 2014, helping to provide for its academic needs, provided laptop computers for presentation to the school’s top three 2018 matric achievers.
In support of the bank’s ongoing assistance to the school, two retired Principals, Farouk and Ayesha Bayat, joined the bank’s social responsibility team in 2017 to also play a role at the school, providing invaluable academic and management support.
Mr Bayat, who won the OR Tambo Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 National Teaching Awards, also donated his prize, comprising a R160 000 Vodacom 30-tablet Trolley Solution, to Sinevuso Secondary School.
Mr Osman said: “We, of the SAMCT, were delighted to have been in a position to provide the finance to construct and equip the new administration block and establish a borehole on school property in the quest to help level the educational facility playing fields, by contributing towards such necessary upgrades.”
I would, on behalf of Al Baraka Bank, also like to congratulate the school’s top-three 2018 matric achievers and trust that they will benefit greatly from the laptop computers presented to them by the bank.”
ends
For more information about SAMCT or its infrastructural donation to Sinevuso Secondary School, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
SAMCT Social Responsibility Co-ordinator
Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za
For more information about AlBaraka Bank or its involvement in Sinevuso Secondary School, please contact:
Fathima Mohamed
AlBaraka Bank Social Responsibility Co-ordinator
Tel: 031 364 9183
Email: fmohamed@albaraka.co.za