• Pupils such as this group at the Khulanathi environmental centre in Ugie benefit from the education support programme. Picture: SUPPLIED

  • Infundo Consulting works with pupils during events such as this one at the Khulanathi environmental centre in Ugie. Picture: SUPPLIED

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A PARTNERSHIP between diversified timber company PG Bison, Infundo Consulting and the Eastern Cape department of education has improved education outcomes at several schools in the province.

What started as a corporate social investment initiative in 2009 with 4,800 pupils at three, then later four schools in the Ugie, Maclear and Mount Frere education district today reaches more than 16,000 pupils at 22 schools, says PG Bison CEO Gerhard Victor.

Classrooms and toilets have been built, textbooks and accredited leadership training delivered and work has been done to develop the skills of school-management teams.

PG Bison supports the project with R500,000 annually. But, says Infundo Consulting director Charmaine Smith, local communities own and drive the process.

"Although the entry point for our interventions may be at a school or cluster of schools, our work had to look across the entire community system to be effective."

Infundo also works with businesses, churches and other organisations in communities to improve school outcomes.

"This is why we get the success we do. We can’t expect one person to change the game if nobody else wants to make a move. Systems transformation is only possible if managed as an integrated, complex whole," Smith says.

At the start of the project, an Infundo team assessed the first three schools to discover what support was needed. A range of needs was identified — from infrastructural challenges, to a lack of leadership and strategic management skills, teachers’ content skills and social challenges.

"What stood out was that the schools were not equipped to manage the complex environments they found themselves in. PG Bison wanted us to deepen our relationship with the schools so we could make the whole system work," says Smith.

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MUCH of the initial interventions had little to do with teaching.

"It made sense to work with a cluster and pipeline of schools; hence the inclusion of the fourth school — the primary school which feeds the high school in Ugie," says Smith. "We were doing a lot of trauma debriefing, counselling and listening to things people were hurt and upset about.

"At times people were preoccupied by difficult events and this was reflected in their emotional state, impacting on performance. We then finally started working on the more regular things like teacher-development," she says.

The support had an immediate effect. Some schools showed an average pass rate increase from 23% to 69% in a year.

Eastern Cape education department district director Mbulelo Mpupu says the government alone cannot tackle unemployment, poverty and inequality.

"What started with a small project has had a strong influence on the entire district. We definitely want to continue this partnership, and help the community to understand the role PG Bison is playing in this success story."

Smith says it felt like a breakthrough when she was once called to attend a problem-solving meeting by one of the partner communities. "They explained the issues, but then proceeded to tell me the proposed solutions and which ones were most suitable; and why," she says. "It is events like this that started to create a real strategic partnership leading to consistent implementation of plans and decisions.

"We help teams measure themselves, so they can drive their own learning. The schools have been able to set out clear success indicators, measured by incidences of bullying, cheating, late coming or violence. The focus remained on how to create a growing organisation and community."

A recent addition to the programme is placing unemployed youth who recently matriculated back in school as tutors, with paid stipends from the National Youth Development Agency as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Gold Peer Education, also funded by the agency, provides peer-mentoring skills and other support. Some of the young tutors were trained by the organisation and placed at primary schools to offer remedial support.

Many young tutors have been awarded the Department of Basic Education’s Funza Lushaka Bursary to study full-time next year.

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NCEDO Msamo, 20, is one of 18 pupils with matric who was chosen this year as a teaching assistant to matriculants.

"It is sometimes a challenge for me, because I am teaching guys that are older than I am. Then they don’t always concentrate on what I would be telling them," he says.

"But there have been improvements and they show their gratitude in their hard work. I helped them with the hard topics like trigonometry, geometry and statistics.

"I worked long hours and overtime, often walking 20km to school for the fun of it because my wish for them is to pass matric. I love maths and I love to share knowledge with others," he says.

Infundo also provides development opportunities to officials and teachers in the district in which it is active, ensuring that maths, science and accounting is supported across 22 high schools.

Officials are also assisted with developing training materials, training workshops and coaching.

The matric pass rate has improved and stabilised by up to 20% across the district. There have also been significant improvements in learner leadership skills, teacher content knowledge in important subjects and closer integration of strategies between the district and PG Bison for more effective allocation and expenditure of the funds.

A big achievement has been the curriculum training, through support for the district officials, across the 22 high schools and improved school management team leadership and strategic development in the schools.

"We have also been able to establish closer ties between our schools and independent schools in Johannesburg and Grahamstown for free sharing of resources and academic support," Smith says.