Teen queen's gift
SCIENCE pupils from a Merebank high school are now in their element thanks to a revamped laboratory.
PR Pather Secondary School recently benefited from a social development project run by oil refinery Sapref.
The Durban-based business has made it its mission to promote the sciences by renovating school laboratories.
Despite being ranked as a wealthy school by the Department of Basic Education, PR Pather Secondary caters for many poorer children from areas such as Lamontville, Umlazi and Merebank.
Principal Vilashini Satyendra said because it received minimal funding from the education department, the school, which is attended by 945 pupils, had to raise funds to pay the bills.
“We have a lot of children who come from single-parent households or whose parents are unemployed. We have to do a lot of fundraising on our own to boost the coffers of the school.
“So when something like this comes along, a project that cost R500 000, we are ecstatic, because this would take us years to develop on our own.”
Satyendra said the lack of proper facilities and chemicals had put strain on the staff and pupils.
“Our lab looked very neat, but we lacked a lot of equipment. And because of that, most of the experiments were done by the teacher by demonstrating. Lots of the chemicals were too old, so we had to get rid of all of them.
“Despite this, though, we have a 92% pass rate in physical science and a 90% pass rate in mathematics.”
“But with the children being able to get more practical experience, we are expecting the quality of the pass rates to be better to ensure that they are not just passing, but doing so well”, said Satyendra.
Sapref installed Bunsen burners, work benches and computers, and renovated the lab’s gas rooms, which were not in working order.
Science teacher Gianwathie Sookdew said the difference was noticeable in less than a month since the lab’s refurbishment.
“It is amazing, because it’s like a whole new dimension has opened up. The interest and enthusiasm it has generated is heartening.
“We have already loaded past year papers on the computers for the pupils and that has been working well, because now everyone can learn at their own pace,” said Sookdew.