The adoption of Tembisa High School in 1996 by Bytes Document Solutions (BDS) has seen almost a decade of financial support improve the environment for learners and the community, and recently the completion of an on-site Hotel School that pupils will use as a platform from which to launch their future careers.
The Hotel School enables teachers and learners to practise and display their culinary skills during normal lessons, and to prepare for exams after hours. As the Hotel School is on school property, Tembisa High School is also able to use the facility for fund-raising functions to generate much needed funds for further initiatives such as sporting tournaments and equipment.
"From the Hotel School project to all the other work we have done with the school since 1996, a total of more than R5 million worth of investment, our aim has been to partner with them so that our contribution is not just a blanket outlay that does not address any real issues, but is rather an input that is targeted at righting specific wrongs," says Yolisa Tashe, employment equity programme manager of the sole authorised distributor of Xerox products and solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
An English medium school with 58 teachers and 1 944 learners, Tembisa High School was adopted by BDS two years after it had taken Nyiko Primary School under its wing. The motivation for the support was to provide graduates from the primary school with a suitable high school to migrate to when they moved to grade eight.
Initial work with the high school focused on financial assistance for renovations and structural additions. Since then, work has also been done to improve teachers` qualifications, to raise pass rates, and in some instances to augment salaries where necessary.
"Bytes Document Solutions showed an interest in the school because we were producing good results, despite the difficulties we faced and the basic facilities we lacked," says Joseph Tsenase, principal of Tembisa High School. "Every year we discuss our needs with our `parent` company and those needs that are most urgent are then fulfilled during that year. Bytes Document Solutions sets a social example through our adoption and the country would do well to have more companies following their example."
Since BDS`s intervention at the schools, both have undergone full electrification and have been renovated, with ablution facilities being built at each school, and windows and doors fixed. Box libraries have been installed in all classrooms, and laboratory and electronic equipment bought for both schools; and pathways have been paved.
BDS has also assisted Tembisa High School in improving its sporting facilities with the construction of a multi-purpose court on which netball, tennis and softball can be played. Tennis equipment was also bought for the school and a full-time tennis coach hired by BDS to train the teachers responsible for sport and the learners interested in playing.
"The focus of our corporate social investment lies in education because the people we hope to employ one day will be drawn from the youth currently moving through the education system," Tashe says.
Work has been done on improving the final-year pass rate at Tembisa High School, with problem areas impacting negatively on pass rates being identified during strategy sessions. In addressing the problem, BDS engaged the services of a non-governmental organisation skilled in the training of teachers according to the new outcomes-based education system. As a result, the school`s pass rate has increased from 49% to 88% and continues to climb.
BDS has also begun adopting schools in Natal and the Western Cape.
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