Arbeitsblatt: Save The School

South African Newspaper: 13 July 2003 Community saves school SCHAGEN Education is the key to your future. But what if your school has leaking roofs, no window panes, no school books and is in general disrepair? The answer get helpful community to pull together to restore the school to its former state. This is what happened at Schagen Primary School recently. The school first started in 1956 in church hall built on Mr Ferdie Smuts‘s farm. In 1972 four permanent classrooms were built. Over the years Mr Smuts supported the school financially. In 1988 he passed away and the school slowly deteriorated. There was no inside running water, no inside toilets and no electricity. In 1994 the SA Department of Education took over the complete running of the school. The school caters for 102 pupils and has staff of two teachers and headmaster. The department has constructed two chemical toilets and currently provides the teachers‘ salaries, some stationery and textbooks. According to Mrs Labotschy, the driving force behind the conservency, there are not enough books to go around. Last year farmers in the aerea formed the Mount Carmel Conservancy and one of their first projects was to upgrade the school in terms of structure and teaching aids. proposal to improve the quality of education offered at the school was taken by Mr Frans Nanni to his home town HILTERFINGEN in Switzerland, where he raised enough funds to start the repair of the school structure. The money collected would enable locals to purchase material, while the labour would have to be provided by the parents, children and community members. meeting was held with parents where they were called on to volunteer over weekends to do repairs themselves. The local community took to the idea of helping themselves and every Saturday and Sunday afternoon parents volunteer to help with the renovations. „We have had total of 30 volunteers. Every Saturday and Sunday we have at least 10 to 15 volunteers working on the school, said Mrs Mary Lebotschy, known as the driving force behind the conservency. Local businesses from the aerea also stepped in and donated material. Eskom was approached to assist with the installation of electricity to the school and agreed to install all electrical points in the school free of charge. Next the Department of Education was approached to discuss the need for education materials such as text books and stationary. The department agreed to have the necesary stock delivered by July 16, the day the school is due to start its third term. „We have had many donations but are still in need of fencing material, cement, books for our library, old magazines, computer paper and stationary, sais Mrs Lebotschy.