Five Mbekweni schools celebrate
2005-07-28
THE partnership between the National Business Initiative (NBI), the Western Cape Department of Education (WCDE) and Ernst & Young (E&Y) sees five Mbekweni schools participate in an exit celebration ceremony at the Desmond Tutu High School where the project was initially launched on 23 May 2001.
Over the last three years, E&Y has invested over R975 000 and reached over 184 educators and 18 891 learners in the Mbekweni area.
E&Y partnership demonstrates a unique combination of strategic project implementation, which is linked to and guided by robust analytical research and debate.
University of Western Cape Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Brian O’Connell, delivered the keynote address at the function which was attended by E&Y senior partner Haroon Lorgat and Western Cape Education Department’s Chief Director for Urban Schools, Ndo Mti.
The Ernst & Young Mbekweni EQUIP Cluster Project, which forms part of NBI EQUIP (Education Quality Improvement Partnerships) Programme, targeted five Western Cape schools in the Mbekweni Township since its launch in May 2001.
These include Desmond Tutu High, Imboniselo Primary, Ihlumelo Junior High, Mbekweni Primary and Langabuya Primary.
The initial planning, negotiation and briefing of project stakeholders began in October 2000.
This involved meetings with E&Y staff members, Western Cape education officials, School Governing Bodies (SGBs), principals and educators of the five schools and service providers and facilitators of the EQUIP Programme.
EQUIP aims to support government’s education quality improvement policies by identifying and utilising resources from the private sector to build capacity at schools.
EQUIP ensures that schools take responsibility for their own development and that they effectively work together with education departments, universities, other service-providers and their
communities to guarantee sustainable development.
Areas in which development takes place are school management, governance and leadership; departmental curriculum delivery; the improvement of school environments such as vegetable gardens for feeding schemes and fundraising; community participation and the professional and personal development of educators and learners.
“EQUIP’s role has been to assist schools with their leadership, management, governance and development needs,” commented Valerie Geen, EQUIP National Programmes Manager.
“Each school was at a different level of development and has benefited from the approach of identifying its own priorities.
At the start of this project, none of these schools had School Development Plans, which suggested a need for governance to be strengthened in all the schools.”
E&Y’s Lorgat commented that the notable achievement was the overall evaluation of the schools, which indicates that there was significant progress in one of the schools, good progress in two schools and significant progress in the other two schools.
“The achievements include the improved ability to plan and to implement plans for school development, improved management and governance and improved learner performance,” said Lorgat.
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