INVITATION: How you can make a difference in SA’s education system

Join Partners for Possibility on 27 July 2016 in Sandton to find out how ordinary citizens can make an extraordinary contribution to South Africa’s education crisis.

SA’s education system is in crisis. Of the country’s 25 000 government schools, 5 000 are doing very well, while 20 000 – or 80% – are not doing well at all. These are some of the frightening stats on the Partners for Possibility website.

Partners for Possibility (PfP) is a programme that seeks to achieve quality education for all children in South Africa by 2025. Its methods are both innovative and successful. All that’s missing now is scale.

“A lot of money has gone into education in recent years, but very little has changed,” explains the programme’s founder Louise van Rhyn. “It’s clear we need a different solution – something innovative, something creative, something designed to address the root of the problem at school and community level.”

In it’s research, PfP found that the successful schools, those 5 000 that are doing very well, all have two things in common – a competent principal and a community that supports the school.

The PfP initiative speaks to the idea that enhancing the quality of education, improving the school environment and encouraging engagement between parents and teachers are meaningful and attainable goals that would provide an upward spiral of real change in society.

“By placing the school at the centre of community we believe that a radical transformation can be achieved in the education sector,” says Louise.

“We also run a development programme for principals, in which they are paired up with top business leaders who, together with professional coaches, provide the principals with mentorship, coaching, formal and informal learning, and personal growth opportunities.

Louise says that while PfP boasts hundreds of success stories, there are still thousands of schools and communities that the programme has not been able to reach yet.

“All we need to expand the PfP programme is the donation of time and skills from professionals,” says Louise. “It doesn’t take much, but it can make massive a massive towards solving SA’s education crisis.”

The PfP event on 27 July 2016 will provide some insight into how individuals can become active citizens and help to solve some of the country’s pressing social crises. To book your seat, contact diane@symphonia.net. Spots will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.