Kagiso Trust to work with Limpopo schools
Kagiso Trust’s interventions through the Beyers Naudé Schools Development Programme (BNSDP) in rural and township schools in the Free State has paid dividends, resulting in several schools achieving more than a 90% matric pass rate. Following the success in the Free State, Kagiso Trust will implement the programme in Limpopo, with the aim of improving the learning outcomes of previously disadvantaged pupils. The BNSDP educational model will soon be launched in the Sekhukhune district in Limpopo. The programme provides infrastructure to rural schools, ensures quality education by providing expertise to teachers and learners, and develops leadership capacity among teachers, learners and parents.
Centres of excellence
Kagiso Trust CEO Mankodi Moitse said the trust wants to spread the programme to other areas “so that this can become a model that can be replicated, tailored and implemented across multiple districts in the country”. Moitse stated that in partnership with the Limpopo department of education, the programme had set aside R400m for the Sekhukhune district over the next five years. “The district is a rural nodal area, whose performance has been at its lowest for several years. The BNSDP model has shown over the years that we can convert under-performing rural schools into centres of excellence.”
The Free State’s performance has been consistent since the inception of the BNSDP. While the national pass rate was 78.2%, Free State received 87.5%, The partnership between the Trust and the Free State department of education saw an impressive improvement in matric results in several districts. All the districts in the province achieved more than 80%.
The province achieved more than 70% in all gateway subjects. These include mathematics, accounting, physical science, economics, English and business studies. This proves beyond doubt that the intervention works. Moitse said the same approach would be applied in the Sekhukhune and Riba districts. “We would like to replicate the model and the Limpopo province is best placed to be the next province where the programme should be implemented.” “Partnering and collaborating with the department of education, as well as the MEC in the Limpopo province, will be pivotal to the success of this programme,” she added. The aim of the project is to bring a comprehensive and tailored programme to address the challenges Limpopo schools face.
The programme will provide infrastructure and build the instructional leadership and curriculum capacity in the schools.
Overemphasis on matric
Moitse said she was confident the programme would succeed in not only improving matric results, but the schooling system as a whole in the targeted areas.
“The BNSDP model is about making a systemic change. We do appreciate that there is an implicit expectation of improving the matric results. However, the overemphasis of matric sometimes overlooks challenges in the schooling pipeline. When instructional leadership improves, then matric results will also improve, over time.
“The BNSDP model is customised to fit the needs of the schools in Sekhukhune. For the model to work we need ‘all hands on deck’ from all the stakeholders.”
Kagiso Trust has invested more than R400m since the BNSDP programme was first piloted in Lwamando Secondary School in the Vhembe district 15 years ago. The intervention and that of other partners in the private sector has been lauded by minister of basic education Angie Motshekga and her MECs.
‘‘This can become a model that can be replicated, tailored and implemented across multiple districts in the country’
Mankodi Moitse, Kagiso Trust CEO