Despite abject poverty, residents of Setswetla Informal Settlement are taking advantage of local educational opportunities for their children.
This is to ensure they are not left behind by their peers when starting formal primary school. The settlement is not electrified, relies on bucket toilets, has one dusty, potholed gravel road, communal water taps and no recreational facilities. All homes are shacks, some perched along the Jukskei river bank and next to illegal dumping spots. The place reflects a life of misery, but this does not discourage the parents from enrolling their children at the only educational facility, the Hlayisanani Daycare Centre. The creche constructed on a former dump site transformed from a feeding scheme in 1991 to a provider of early childhood and development for 43, two to six-year-old children. It prepares them for primary education through its three trained and qualified teachers.
Jacobeth Miokanyeng, principal said the creche’s capacity is for 60 children only and they would appreciate support to expand the premises so that more children can be enrolled. She said most of their children went onto primary education at McWeiler, Skeen, Lyndhurst, Marlboro and Bramley primary schools. “Most of these schools gave a positive feedback on the performance of children from our creche,” she said.
Moikanyeng also stated that besides the good foundation learning, children who were malnourished were nursed back to good health through the nutrition programme of the Department of Health. Moikanyeng also thanked the Department of Education for providing educational material; Save the Children, an NPO; and the parents for supporting the creche’s operational costs.
Details: Jacobeth Moikanyang; 072 472 3955.
