A totally inadequate, overcrowded, and hygienically unsafe Grade R classroom at an Ndwedwe,
Durban, primary school has been replaced with a brand new R240 000 mobile classroom, with in-
built an ablution facility, the result of a most timely South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) intervention.
The classroom need was identified when another school merged with Dumezweni Primary School,
leaving the existing Grade R classroom overcrowded, non-user-friendly for the age group, and with
learners running the risk of disease because of unhygienic atendant toilet facilities.
SAMCT representative, Mr. Gaff Osman, said of the organization’s new classroom donation: “The
original classroom was in poor condition and totally unsuited to the needs of Grade R learners. In
addition, the toilets were inappropriate and unsafe from a hygiene perspective.”
“Something had to change and the solution lay in making available a brand new and more
appropriate facility, with user-friendly ablutions.”
The school, established in the Mayekeni area of Ndwedwe by local concerned and passionate community members in 1981 provides tuition in Grades R to seven for learners from largely poverty-
stricken families and child-headed homes.
Mr Osman said: “This is a small, community-supported school whose staff are passionate about
education and preparing the learners in their charge for high school and a beter life beyond
schooling. Classroom overcrowding and adjacent unhygienic ablution facilities are, however, not
conducive to either teaching or learning, especially at the vital and impressionable Grade R level.”
“We, of the SAMCT, were therefore pleased to step in and assist with the provision of a mobile
classroom and proper ablution facilities, thus assisting to create an environment at this school
conducive to quality learning at Grade R level.”
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 organizations in the fields of healthcare, social development, poverty alleviation,
and education.
“It is our hope that by providing this new classroom, we have helped this most deserving school in its
journey towards achieving its goal of further developing and promoting a culture of teaching and
learning, by creating an age-appropriate, happy Grade R class environment in which to develop learners physically, intellectually, cognitively, creatively, socially and emotionally, the foundation of
is vital for their future school lives and life beyond education,” said Mr Osman.