Mveso, Eastern Cape - It was Nelson Mandela’s dream to have a high school in his place of birth, Mvezo, and now, as his life ebbs away, that dream is soon to come to fruition.
As the world keeps anxious vigil of Nelson Mandela’s precarious health, the place of his birth, Mvezo village, is a hive of activity. Builders work double shifts to finish a high school in his name, the first high school in this underprivileged part of the country.
The erection of the Mandela School of Science & Technology, built by German engineering company Siemens, has been quietly transforming this area of gentle hills and modest huts, sowing the seeds of hope for a better future for children whose choices often come down to dropping out of school or leaving home.
This is the fulfilment of Mandela’s dream of building a high school in the village of his birth, a dream he expressed in a meeting with Peter Loescher, president and CEO of Siemens, in 2010.
Loescher got to work on what is one of South Africa’s most ambitious corporate social responsibility projects, a R100 million state-of-the-art, double-storey high school consisting of 25 classrooms with a capacity for 700 pupils.
The project embodies Mandela’s belief that “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Pupils will be drawn from up to 22 feeder schools in the area and trained in much-needed skills including technology, science, engineering and engineering design.
Siemens has been careful to get the buy-in of all involved. So this is a partnership between the company, the Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology, the Mvezo Development Trust and the community of Mvezo.
“This initiative can change the lives of this community forever, and there will be a high demand for places in the school,” said Mandla Mandela (Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela), the chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela.
“The Mandela children in this community will be the first applicants. The future generations of Mandelas will be educated here. We want to retain our children in our communities here, not see them leave because of lack of opportunity,” he said.
Building started in October last year and it has already benefited the local community. People formerly without skills have been trained in plastering, bricklaying, electrical work, plumbing, carpentry and tiling.
“Before, we were very poor. Now we have jobs and we are learning. It would be so great if the school opened before our Mandela passes,” said Alice Bhanci, a junior foreman.
The school is being developed according to sustainability principles, so it features wind and solar energy, energy-efficient lighting, automation systems, rainwater capture and water filtration technologies.
The school will start in January with Grades 8-10, and will be at full capacity by 2016 with pupils in Grades 8-12.
It will follow the national curriculum, with four sets of specialised subject streams that have been identified to allow pupils to focus on engineering, science, technology and agriculture in their last two years.
Siemens is also enabling the school to benefit from co-operation agreements with other schools and science education networks internationally. These include the Nelson Mandela School in Berlin, International School Munich and Erlangen, Experimento (international discovery-based learning project) and Siemens Professional Education Germany.
Just 7km from the Mandela School of Science and Technology, meanwhile, is another exciting development. At Mvezo Komkhulu (known as “The Great Place”, Mandela’s birthplace), a complex housing the Mandela museum and conference centre is currently under construction.
It is scheduled to open in July next year, and will also house the Mvezo Traditional Council.
The Star