R900 000 Donation Enables Construction of Vital Classrooms At Under-resourced Port Elizabeth School
For Immediate Release:
Friday, 14 September 2018
————————————————————————————————————————–
An under-resourced, though high-performance Port Elizabeth primary school which was forced to split its teaching programme between two separate facilities because of cramped conditions and a shortage of classroom space has received a R900 000 injection, enabling six new vitally needed classrooms to be brought on-stream.
The financial rescue package was provided by the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT). Commenting at the official hand-over of the new facilities, SAMCT representative, Mufti Zubair Bayat, said: “A sound education is the very necessary foundation for success in life and our youth – the leaders of tomorrow – both deserve and have the right to the best possible learning environment in order to excel.”
Nasruddin Islamic School provides both primary and high school education on two campuses. However, the primary school, located on cramped and rented premises, has outgrown all available space, the result of necessarily bowing to exceptionally high learner uptake. The only solution was an initial move of the primary level Grade 7 learners to the high school premises at the beginning of 2017.
Space, however, remained at a premium, further necessitating a decision by the school’s management to also move Grades 4 to 6 to the high school premises.
According to the school’s Director, Mr Abdullah Abrahams, the primary school building presented insurmountable problems and if left unchecked would have negatively affected the quality of education.
“Our decision meant constructing six additional classrooms to accommodate 103 learners,” he said.
However, the under-resourced school, which serves the educational needs of numerous disadvantaged learners in an area suffering high levels of unemployment, could not meet the cost.
Mufti Bayat said: “Such a split of facilities is far from ideal from both an administration and teaching perspective, but an obvious necessity, given the major growth in learner numbers the school has experienced in recent times. Indeed, the school’s management, staff and learners are to be applauded for having made the best of the situation to date.”
He added: “The fact remains that the primary school continues outgrowing the available space and without the ability to provide for additional classrooms at this rented facility, the only alternative is to continue the transition of primary school learners to the high school facility. We, of the South African Muslim Charitable Trust, recognise the vital role education plays and acknowledge that it is the fundamental right of every child to benefit from a sound education in an environment which is conducive to learning. If splitting facilities to achieve this goal is the only option, then it is surely an option worth pursuing.”
He said the SAMCT was ‘delighted to be afforded the opportunity to assist’ this severely under- resourced school in its efforts to give learners the opportunity to benefit from effective teaching in a non-cramped environment.
“It was our pleasure to make a significant difference by making available R900 000 for the construction of six new classrooms and an access staircase at the high school. This will assist in ensuring a better quality of primary education and a greatly improved environment for teachers to prepare their young charges for adjacent high school education,” Mufti Bayat added.
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.
ends
For more information about SAMCT or
its Nasruddin Islamic School classroom construction intervention, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Co-ordinator Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za