TEEN AND HIS TWO YOUNGER SIBLINGS ATTEND SAME GRADE AS KIDS FINALLY RECEIVE EDUCATION
KIDS GET CHANCE FOR EDUCATION
A 13-YEAR-old Limpopo boy attended school for the first time yesterday and finally got an opportunity to learn how to write his name.
The boy, along with his two siblings, aged 10 and 6, went to school for the first time in their lives.
This was after years of poverty prevented them from accessing education.
He said he was thrilled to be at school.
“I can’t wait to learn English. But I still don’t know what I want to do when I finish my studies because I’ve never been to school before,” he said.
“I used to wake up in the morning and just play around with my siblings. There was nothing else to do. Sometimes I would just get bored.”
The boy, who was wearing a blue T-shirt and grey pants, said he looked forward to making friends and learning new things at school.
The children are from a family of 15 whose struggles with poverty, illiteracy and a lack of access to healthcare was covered in previous Sowetan articles.
The family’s plight was discovered last year by a land rights organisation, which raised concerns after finding that girls, some as young as 14, were forced to sleep with men to avoid starvation.
They were later moved to Vleifontein after government intervened and independent contractors pitched in to build them a proper house.
At the time it was discovered that the children were completely illiterate, did not have birth certificates and had not been immunised.
Dressed in red pants and a green cardigan yesterday, the girl smiled shyly when asked about her first day of school.
“I’m very happy. Now I can learn how to write my name,” she said.
The three children had woken up at 6am, taken baths and had plain rice for breakfast.
The children also got their first morning assembly experience while standing at the front row.
The school’s principal Maanda Godwana said all three would be placed in the Grade 1 class.
However, he said the 10 and 13year old would not spend the whole year before being promoted to other Grades.
“Once they can read and write, we will promote them to other grades. It will increase their selfconfidence being in the same class as their age mates,” Godwana said.
He said the children would receive special attention from teachers such as Beauty Kutama who has an award for her work in remedial teaching, which is aimed at helping pupils with learning difficulties.
He said they would also encourage the children to take up sport.
“We also want to give them responsibilities in class so that they can be integrated with other children,” Godwana said.
He said they would also ensure that the children get meals during school hours and some extra food to take home.
The children’s 48-year-old mother said she was glad to finally see them going to school.
“I’m happy because now they will be like other children. I saw the school and met the principal on Monday and he received us well,” she said.
Spokesman for Nkuzi Development Association Vasco Mabunda said previously the children were in danger of reaching adulthood without any education.
“We are proud to have played a part in the restoration of their constitutional rights.
“Now they will have an opportunity to grow and contribute to society at large,” Mabunda said. –