In a small rural town in Mpumalanga, poverty, stagnant development and deep social challenges continue to shape the lives of many families while pupils walk into classrooms in hopes of a better future.
Siyifunile Secondary School, in Dullstroom, faces challenges, including poverty in the community, overcrowded classrooms and a lack of resources, but pupils remain determined to succeed.
During a robotics lab launch hosted by the Shoprite Foundation on Thursday, school principal Lynette Mongwe said the environment surrounding the school reflected the struggles many families endured.
She explained that many pupils come from poor households, and some are forced to grow up without parental support. Some families are child-headed.
“If you look at the infrastructure at home first before we even talk about the school, you can see that the community is stagnant — we are classified as a rural area because the houses have not improved,” she said.
Mongwe said the realities pupils face at home often affect their academic performance.
She revealed that when new pupils arrive for grade 8, a baseline test is written which reveals learning gaps.
“When they arrive at school we give them baseline tests, then you can see there is a challenge. There is no support at home and some of the pupils are struggling.
“Educators are therefore forced to work harder to ensure pupils eventually succeed in their matric year.”
Social problems within the community also play a role in the difficulties pupils face. Mongwe said alcohol abuse among adults is common.
“This community is a drinking community. Parents drink in the presence of their kids and sometimes send them to taverns to buy alcohol. Some pupils start drinking while they are still in grade seven,” she said.
Despite these challenges, the school has had a historic record of achieving a consistent 100% matric pass rate. However, its performance began to decline in recent years due to many factors, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and limited resources.
Mongwe said the school achieved a 70% matric pass rate last year. She said the decline began during the pandemic period when pupils attended school on a rotational timetable.
“When pupils were not at school, they were at home. Do you think they would do their schoolwork? Of course not,” she said.
She also raised concerns about the lack of resources at the school, especially after it was designated as a mathematics, science and technology academy.
Although the school was required to focus on mathematics and physical sciences, it lacked the infrastructure needed to support these subjects.
“And as a result, practical science work often exists only in theory — our physical sciences pupils are doing practicals theoretically.
“When you look at the school infrastructure, it does not reflect what you would expect from a mathematics, science and technology school. We have been pleading with the department to assist us with facilities such as a science laboratory.”
She expressed concerns about the shortage of classrooms to accommodate the pupils.
“Our classes accommodate 60 pupils and that’s not healthy. We’ve contacted the department and they still want us to produce results regardless of the circumstances,” she said
The school recently received a robotics and coding lab, which has brought excitement to pupils. Mongwe said the pupils have welcomed the development and are excited to try it out.
“This generation is different. It’s like they were born holding cellphones in their hands. We believe that with this project people will see that this school is going somewhere. Then maybe we will get support from wherever,” she said.
Director of the Shoprite Foundation Maude Modise said it had seen how digitisation and artificial intelligence (AI) has helped it as a company.
“Looking into the future, those are the skills that are going to be critical for pupils to be able to participate in the economy,” she said
She said Siyifunile was deserving of this opportunity.
“We look for schools that are committed to be able to do the subject, because it requires commitment from teachers, from principals, to also invest their time so that the resources are used adequately.”
Development Bank of Southern Africa group executive for strategy and sustainability Zeph Nhleko said while SA continued to face a serious unemployment problem, one of the solutions was to get children into these spaces.
“It’s important that when we do these initiatives, we also prioritise pupils in the rural areas. The AI space is the future that we want our children to participate in, and it starts in schools,” he said.
TimesLIVE
Kabungane Biyela
www.timeslive.co.za
