The Trust concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in XXX to legitimize its donor work and relationship with schools under its control. A result – intentional at first – was that each library and literacy development programme took place in schools in the Johannesburg South District.
It was a historic moment when the trustees of Imperial decided to incorporate a new district in its scope of establishing libraries in other districts serving previously disadvantaged schools.
It was in this way that Pitseng Primary School in District D8 (the Sedibeng West district) was identified as a new partner school. It is situated in a low-cost housing area in Sedibeng. The learners are bussed in by the department of education from a sprawling informal settlement in abject conditions, a few kilometers away.
The school fortunately had a big enough multi-purpose classroom to convert into a library; this building received the same loving care and attention to detail as all our previous projects. It was converted into a facility that would be to safe with all the attendant comforts for leisure reading for leisure, for literacy development, and for study and research. Teachers also enjoyed the state of the art resources and teaching aids. The community was proud that their children had a place where they could read and complete their homework.
The improvements in learner performance at the school have been phenomenal since the inception of the programme.
