I got to spend Friday visiting the Fezeka Senior Secondary School in the Gugulethu township. This was thanks to my friend Swallows who is the school's Computer and Technology teacher. He has a couple of labs to work with, although the Internet service is frustratingly out of order. The school is a science and math focus school, and it also offers instruction in Sotho. This means it draws students from a wide area. The students have six 50-minute periods per day, with a seven day rotating schedule. The facilities are basic, little beyond desks and chalk/white boards in the rooms, but functional. To the delight of the teachers, the school is getting some interactive white board set-ups (as seen in the classroom photo). A Canadian non-profit "Education without Borders" supports this school, including by sponsoring an English teacher. More information about the school, such as a clip from a recent film on its award-winning choir and a link to the Canadian teacher's blog, are one the EwB website. There is also an American volunteer at the school (just graduated from university) who, among other tasks, is helping start a recycling program. Fezeka, like many South African secondary schools, is dealing with the fallout from last year's (2009; unlike in the U.S., their school year coincides with the calendar year) very poor "matric" results (passing rates on the end-of-high-school exams).
More on what has developed as an education "crisis" to come. For now, a good primer is an Economist article contributed by Steve Z.
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