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CITY PRESS, 11 SEPTEMBER, 2016 7
business

Tools for

future

leaders

To fulfil its CSI mandate, the IDC

is building the country’s capacity

for homegrown scarce skills in

today’s classrooms to create future A

PROJECT IN
jobs and economic growth, writes PARTNERSHIP
Zinhle Mapumulo WITH THE

IDC

hen Fulufhelani Mashapha’s name was called out in
January as the top-performing matric pupil in Limpopo,
Tebogo Molefe, corporate social investment (CSI) head
at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)
jumped for joy.
W Mashapha went to school at Tshivhase Secondary
School in Tshivhase village in Venda, one of the schools adopted by the IDC
as part of its CSI programme.
What made this an exciting experience for Molefe was the fact that
Mashapha obtained seven distinctions and scored 100% in physics, life
sciences, geography and life orientation. Maths and
science are at the centre of the IDC’s Whole School
Development Programme.
Recalling this day brings a smile to Molefe’s
face this week.
“We were so proud because here was a
child who had benefited from one of our
programmes. She was not just a top
performer in Limpopo, but also among the
top performers nationally,” she says.
Tshivhase Secondary School is one of 30
schools in South Africa that has been
adopted by the IDC in partnership with
Adopt-A-School Foundation. The programme
is a holistic and sustainable model of improving
schools. It addresses all the schools’ challenges -
from infrastructure needs, to supporting the
academic staff and improving the social environment in The new office block (right) and science centre (top) funded by the IDC at Makhosana Manzini High School near Bushbuckridge. Pupil Mikateko
the schools incrementally over a sustained Tebogo Molefe Baloyi (left) says she can’t imagine being in a better school PHOTOS: LEON SADIKI
period of time.
The IDC built toilets and a block of
classrooms for Tshivhase Secondary School,
as well as renovating the science laboratory. 28 132 Rural school produces star
The financing institution also helped the
school build a kitchen because food for the
feeding scheme was being prepared out in THE NUMBER OF
the open.
While the Venda school was doing well in BENEFICIARIES
terms of academic performance before it pupils against all odds
was adopted by the IDC, the investment OF THE IDC’s
helped it achieve even better results, says
Molefe.
One of the concrete ways that the IDC’s WHOLE SCHOOL
intervention is measured is in the A famous maths and science whiz kid from Bushbuckridge, Bonginkosi Mnisi, now
improvement in matric results. In 2014 the DEVELOPMENT
pupils’ pass rate at the adopted schools was has a science lab named after him. Here’s how the students at his alma mater
79%, last year it had improved to 82%. PROGRAMME
Of their R39m CSI budget in the last are benefiting from an empowering relationship with the IDC, writes Caiphus Kgosana
“
financial year, 60% was allocated to
education and training, while 30% was
invested in sustainable livelihoods to aid R39m t’s mid-afternoon in the Lowveld and the last of the who cannot afford higher education studies,” he says.
poverty alleviation. All in all 39 000 people taxis ferrying pupils home is making its way out of Nkuna adds that, without the IDC’s involvement,
benfited, of those 28 132 were from the IMakhosana Manzini High School. It is easy to miss many of the school’s achievements would have gone
Whole School Development Programme. the dusty side road that leads to this specialised maths unnoticed. Besides the laboratory, the IDC also built the
The rest of the budget is allocated to THE IDC’s and science school, which is located in the heart of school’s administrative block, which houses his spacious
projects for maximum impact in a variety Mkhuhlu village in the Bushbuckridge area off the The teachers here office and a staff room used by teachers between
of areas. For example last year 50 students TOTAL CSI stretch of road that connects Hazyview to Skukuza. lessons.
from poor backgrounds were put through a The school’s reputation for producing outstanding The toilets have been renovated, and damaged
programme at Wits to prepare them to take EXPENDITURE results, however, dwarfs its remote location. Its pupils make maths and windows and doors have been repaired. Education
studies in STEM (science, technology, come from more than 20 surrounding villages, and experts have been sent to the school to help it draft a
engineering and maths) related fields, while even from as far as Hazyview. science interesting. strategic plan that helps to identify weaknesses and
the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital got IN 2015/2016 Principal Martin Nkuna, in a bespoke black suit and ensure that the school functions at an optimum level.
a much needed R10m donation from them, black-rimmed reading glasses, puts the school’s “The perception of our teachers has changed towards
and the IDC completed a pilot project to popularity down to two things: the involvement of the It is more about the teaching as a profession. They have realised that we
assist TVET colleges to develop a green skills curriculum in the Northern Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the have a funder who has high expectations of them and
Cape. amazing achievements of a pupil named Bonginkosi environment that we they work hard. The pupils also work extra hard to
Molefe says that CSI programmes need to not only make a demonstrable, Mnisi, who has become a legend in these parts. achieve good results. The community has taken
positive developmental impact, but also they need to be relevant to the Back in 2011, the Grade 12 pupil scored perfect marks ownership of the school,” he explains.
business that provides the support. in maths and science, a feat that not only put his live in. We are taking But there are still challenges. Because of its excellent
To that end the IDC also offers support in the area of sustainable school and village on the map, but took the entire reputation, competition for places at the school is high,
livelihoods, focusing on young people and women. These include projects country by surprise. Nkuna gets animated when he tells that and putting it forcing it to accept more pupils than it can cater for.
such as the Emanuel Home-Sewing Project, which provides 15 young people the story of his star pupil and how his success Makhosana Manzini High has at least 1 303 enrolled
with the skills to make a living through sewing, as well as an investment in intertwines perfectly with the IDC’s involvement with pupils who are serviced by 46 dedicated teachers. That
the Big Fish School of Digital Filming, which encourages young filmmakers the school. into our writing means the pupil-teacher ratio is somewhere between
to use their skills to drive social justice, and 60 young people have benefited Having adopted Makhosana Manzini High in 2008 60 and 70 pupils per teacher.
from the IDC’s investment in the Ifa Lethu Foundation’s creative industries through the department of basic education’s efforts to – MIKATEKO BALOYI Nkuna says that, if the school wants to keep to its
training programme. This programme teaches people in poverty-stricken drum up support for its Dinaledi Schools Project high standard, more classrooms need to be built to
areas the necessary entrepreneurial skills to start up their own ventures. (specialised maths and science schools), the IDC was in accommodate the growing number of pupils.
Molefe says that all these interventions bring joy to her and her team. the process of building a specialised science lab at the Mikateko Baloyi, a 16-year-old Grade 11 pupil, cannot
“Knowing that you have made a difference in improving the lives of the school when Mnisi achieved his incredible feat. That think of a better school to cultivate her growing interest
disadvantaged and marginalised communities is the best feeling anybody can was how the Bonginkosi Mnisi Science Lab at the in maths and science.
experience.” school came to be named. “The teachers here make maths and science
In terms of the CSI landscape in South Africa, Molefe believes South Africa “The IDC was already building a science lab and, as interesting. It is more about the environment that we
needs a concerted effort from the private sector to bring positive change to an honour, we felt that, for such outstanding work, we live in. We are taking that and putting it into our
the marginalised. Molefe says at least R8 billion is spent by corporates on would rather name it after him,” says Nkuna. the professionals he has produced in his 21 years at the writing,” she says.
social investment, but the effect is hobbled because initiatives are often Mnisi is now an astrophysics student at the University school. Baloyi says the science laboratory has helped her
fragmented. of Cape Town, but he has left such a rich legacy that, This year, Makhosana Manzini’s alumni approached turn what would have been theoretical experiments
“Companies need to work together when it comes to social investment, every year, the school’s pupils are motivated to emulate him with a view to starting a foundation that would into practical ones, helping to improve her grades.
instead of wanting to shine as individuals. They need to start using CSI him. Last year alone, two pupils obtained 92% and support promising pupils who come from needy She hopes to score a scholarship to the US to study
initiatives as a way to better the lives of South Africans and not only as a 93%, respectively, in their final maths and science families, providing them with bursaries to further their epidemiology. If that fails, she will settle for admission
branding and marketing exercise,” she says. exams. The proud principal counts engineers, doctors, education. to the University of Cape Town as a microbiology
) This series is reported by City Press and supported by the IDC. advocates, pharmacists, scientists and educators among “They want to plough back and adopt certain pupils student.