Missio Dei School
Quality education remains a challenge in rural communities. Children are faced with numerous hardships including no transport to school and sub-standard levels of education. Language remains an issue as children in rural areas are less exposed to different languages. Once they are behind in education a snowball effect causes them to be behind in securing employment which subsequently causes numerous social problems that our country faces each day.
In 2012 we started off with a pre-primary class and a grade R class for the local children. Our aim was to lift the standard of education and grow the school as the children move on to the next standard. We soon realized that the task at hand was one of mammoth proportions. A shed on one of the farms was allocated to develop the school as it was strategically placed in the centre of our community. Several volunteers stepped in and aided at all levels: financially, providing expertise and volunteering to do the work. What started off in a one room classroom grew into a fully equipped school. Today we are humbled to say that we have 145 children enrolled at the school in gr RR- gr 5. Our personnel include 8 full-time teachers and one administrative manager. In school children are not only equipped academically and physically but also guided into a close relationship with Jesus.
The need has overwhelmed us. Sadly, we had to turn some children away as we simply cannot accommodate everyone. Word of mouth has brought more and more people to us wanting to place their children in the school. We will have to extend the school in order to accommodate more children. This will implicate more teachers and more staff and more classrooms.
In January 2018 we trained 8 volunteers for two intensive weeks and they help us with teaching the children Mathematics, Phonics and Reading. Training is continued on a weekly basis through the year. The volunteers are enrolled in a discipleship program on a weekly basis, this ensure unity and excellence amongst the volunteers.
At Mehopung Primary School and Qhowaneng Primary School 145 Children in Gr 3 were identified by their teachers to receive extra attention. We have an excellent relationship with the Principle and HOD. Some of the feedback that we received from them was: ‘These kids were identified as slow learners, but now they have passed the other learners.’
We believe it is due to the joined effort between the Drop-in centre and the teachers. The individual attention gives children confidence and then the children start to concentrate in the classroom with 50 + children. Through the grace of God all our children passed last year. Our challenge is to be able to train more local people to serve as tutors to the children. We would like to expand our program to serve other schools in our area.