It would fair to say that Qalabotjha Secondary School was an automatic shoe-in by virtue of it being a feeder school to the learners of Inkululeko Yesizwe Primary (already an Imperial support school for a few years.) The Trustees argued for the necessity of continuing to provide resources to its learners who were already exposed to an improved level of learning and teaching, thus ensuring sustainable development at secondary school for these learners.
At the outset, Qalabotjha was set up as a new school by the Gauteng Department of Education based on a modern blueprint, so that it included a large and airy library and resource centre. But that is as far as it went. It was just an open shining space with empty shelving and nothing else. Two years after the school’s opening the principal was still hopeful that the library would be filled with supplies and resources – but this was unfortunately not to be, given the huge burden on the shoulders of the Department. With nothing forthcoming, and the glaring insufficiency of its annual budgetary allocation, there was little possibility for anything other than the mere basics.
The trustees saw the opportunity to turn a viable but otherwise empty space into a valuable resource for the school’s teachers and 1200 learners. They thus made a disbursement to provide for, amongst others:
Despite a number of challenges – especially in our high schools – the Trust has seen most hopeful signs of academic and professional advances at the school. The Trust continues to add to the tally of books as requests come in from learners and teachers.
