SOWETO is the iconic urban township that spearheaded the student uprising that led to the inevitable demise of Apartheid in the 1970s. Situated in the southwest of Johannesburg, it has a population of over 2 million people. The township was created in the 1930s when the National Party launched its policy of separate and discriminatory development of the black majority.
The Trust decided to accept proposals from schools to the west of its present concentration of schools in the south along the Golden Highway. Ebuhleni Primary – an elementary school in Emdeni with approximately 1500 grade R to 4 learners – was identified as the first school to pioneer the historic next phase of literacy outreach.
The school governing body had successfully raised funds to build a library, but unfortunately the room size did not allow for private reading rooms. The Trust had to double up on the available space to ensure that three private reading areas were available to teach reading to smaller groups.
The challenge was sourcing 8000 books to cater for 5 to 10-year-olds. 1000 more books for advanced readers were also added to the basket.
A donation by Imperial Logistics for their Mandela Day initiative was used to upgrade five grade R classrooms and the play area for their 150 preschoolers.
The learners at Ebuhleni have produced the best reading scores to date in the pre-reading assessments. This clearly points to very effective teaching practice taking place at the school.
