A Tale of Two Schools

Both schools are in the Eastern Cape - South Africa. Both service underprivileged sections of the population.

 

One school is plagued by vandalism. The toilets don't work. The pupils urinate and defecate on the school grounds. There is no security. The furniture is broken. The ceiling is falling in. The roof tiles are falling off. The classes are unruly. There are almost no teaching aids or textbooks. The teachers are demotivated. The school has no funds. The state of the school is so bad I wouldn't want my dog to sleep there!

 

The other school is just as poor - but that's where the similarity ends. This school has a functioning infrastructure. There are no broken windows. The pupils have textbooks and functioning furniture. The classes are well behaved and orderly. The teachers are motivated. The grass is mowed. The students look neat, and have a 93% Matric pass rate.

 

What is the difference? From what I saw on Carte Blanche last night, the difference has a lot to do with attitude. The first school has just accepted it's fate, and puts the responsibility for fixing their problems squarely on the Department of Education. They don't seem to be prepared to do anything themselves, and rather choose to be victims of their circumstances and chose to blame the legacy of Apartheid (funny - Zimbabwe is doing a similar thing by blaming 'British colonialism' for their mess. Same thing, just on a different scale). The one or two teachers trying to do something are overwhelmed by the backlash of negativity from the pupils and community.

 

The second school on the other hand, has taken a pro-active approach - totally different from the first school. The community is involved in the maintenance of the school, and the teachers are encouraged to view the pupils as their own children. Motivated teachers, with community support, along with the backup of strong management seem to be the key to success in this instance.

 

Well, for schools that fall into the second category - those that want to mould their own destiny, instead of being victims to their circumstances, there is an excellent tool available to cheaply send out pupil's school report cards to their parents via cell phone SMS. The website is www.SchoolReportServices.com