9 June 2020
As soon as lockdown regulations permit BCF will complete the training of 1,020 principals to turn their schools into centres of excellence. These schools, all in the north of the Limpopo Province of South Africa bordering on Zimbabwe and the Kruger National Park, are attended by over 600,000 learners. Most schools are situated in rural villages where poverty, unemployment and a breakdown of family life is endemic. The majority of children are raised by grandparents, carers or other children relying on state subsidies to feed and care for their families.
Despite the circumstances in which these schools operate, it is confidently expected that, within three years, over 70% of the learners at these schools who write the matriculation examination will obtain a university or technical university matriculation pass opening their way to attend university (which is free to the poor in SA), take up a meaningful apprenticeship or join an incompany training programme. Many of these young people will ultimately escape a life in poverty and proudly enjoy a middle-class lifestyle.
Every year a new cohort of 100,000 children will benefit by being able to attend a school which operates as a centre of excellence. This means that by 2024 over a million children will have benefited by being able to attend schools in Limpopo which operate as centres of excellence and ultimately have the opportunity to escape a life in poverty.
Perhaps, just as inspiring, is the fact that the investment made by Worley Ltd who sponsored this programme cost them only R2 or 10p per child/beneficiary.