Education project launches in Alex

The Alexandra ANC Public Constituency Office has started a fresh new angle on the Mandela Day celebrations by launching an education project to assist pupils at high schools in Alexandra.

The project was launched on Mandela Day and Realogile and Eastbank high schools will be the pilot schools, but will be implemented in all six high schools in the township.

“Mandela Day in Alexandra will no longer be a once off event uncovered and unpacked once a year for a little more than an one hour, but rather a sustainable programme with substance that will last for a life time,” said Joanmariae Fubbs, ANC MP and chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry.

She said the focus of the project would be on delivery education for the pupils of the two schools in a practical way, while at the same time seeking to bring together all the pupils and youth in Alexandra with the help of the Germany embassy and the Jewish community.

Fubbs said the first phase of the project would be to provide books, computers, and photocopiers. Extra mathematics would also be provided after school hours. “The project was inspired by former President Nelson Mandela and we are trying to help create sustainable better lives for the pupils so that they can improve their grades and successfully go on to tertiary institutions.

“This is not one event but it is the launching of a sustainable programme which will be expanded to all secondary schools and then ultimately to the primary schools as well,” she said.

Fubbs said the idea was first conceptualised by the youth in the Parliamentary Constituency area, and will be named after Andrew ‘Small’ Radebe, a former brilliant student and political and educational activist at Realogile Secondary School, who was assassinated during the struggle years.

The embassy will provide the first batch of books, several computers and photocopiers while the South African Jewish Board of Deputies will launch an after school hours programme for extra mathematics, initially targeting matric pupils at Realogile and East Bank high schools.

Alexandra, one of the oldest and poorest townships in South Africa, produces more than 800 matriculants annually and 85 percent of them come from disadvantaged families.

The efforts of some members of the community in this area is reflected in the Vincent Tshabalala Trust, which annually awards university bursaries to the top 10 high school pupils.

However, Fubbs said much more needed to be done to help young people who aspired to improve their lives through education. “Our project is just one of those efforts.”

Details: Charlotte Mathonsi 011-786-9486 or 071-835-1725.