About 30 employees have already completed an adult literacy programme at Hilton College and another 32 are attending classes
Jubie Matlou
Gladys Dlamini (34) is a mother of two and works as a cleaner at Hilton College for Boys, the famous and exclusive private school outside Pietermaritzburg.
Her working day starts at 7am and continues until midday. Afterwards she waits at the school’s premises with friends and fellow workers for the afternoon adult literacy class.
Her daily chores are routine, the typical situation for a mother who has studied up to grade seven. She speaks of her weekends as being devoted to doing her family’s washing and cleaning the four-room house they live in.
On weekdays she helps her daughter with her primary school homework, after preparing and dishing up the evening’s meal. She detests the fact that she can’t do the same for her son, who goes to a local secondary school.
“I attend afternoon English classes to improve my communication skills at work. I dropped out of school because my dad didn’t have enough money to pay for my education.”
Dlamini is determined to take advantage of the adult basic literacy programme provided by her employer free of charge. She looks forward to attending computer literacy classes after completing the language skills course.
“I hope to get promoted from my current position at the college once I have completed a computer course, because that would provide me with better skills that would open opportunities for me,” Dlamini says in Zulu.
Her dream captures the aspirations of many of her colleagues who attend the afternoon classes with her. One of them is Precious Mvelase, who began as a cleaner at the college in 1991 and was promoted to assistant matron in one of the dormitories in 1998. Mvelase has a matriculation certificate and for the past few months has been doing a course in basic computer operations.
“My work involves a bit of paper- work, in terms of keeping records of the inmates of my dormitory. I also need to keep files that require updating from time to time. I find the computer course very helpful for my day-to-day responsibilities,” says Mvelase.
Hilton introduced the adult basic literacy programme two years ago, after Rotary International approached the college about its offer to provide computer software. The college then installed the software in its existing stock of computer equipment and connected the system to e-mail and the Internet.
The programme is run by three volunteers from the college’s staff complement. About 30 employees have been through the programme and another 32 are attending the English and computer classes. The entire programme takes about a year and a half to complete and students are awarded certificates at the end of each term.
Peter de Lille, the computer literacy teacher, shuttles from one desk to another helping his students. Instructions for the modules are loaded on to audio-visual disks with full curricular and examination details. Courses provided include three levels of mathematics and office training modules, such as designing letterheads, drafting business proposals and budgets, and making presentations.
“The course is packaged in such a way that it will be useful to the day-to-day work of a student. The objective is to make the course have an impact on a student’s functions in his or her area of employ things that an employer would appreciate as adding value to an employee’s output,” De Lille said.
De Lille cannot wait to relocate the computer laboratory to a newly built centre funded by Data Tech. The centre consists of 80 work stations, with software and online connections, a lecture theatre and an audio-visual laboratory.
“Once the new centre is up and running, the literacy programme is bound to expand and reach out to many adults in the surrounding villages of Sweetwaters and Mphophomeni. More voluntary teaching staff will also be needed. However, a full-time position has been created to fund-raise and manage the programme,” De Lille enthused.
Community voluntary work is not confined to the college’s staff members. Even pupils at the school have taken it upon themselves to visit the nearby farm school to impart their knowledge and skills.
“We have a very keen matric class this year. Some of the pupils take laptops to the nearby school to demonstrate computer operations and use. This is becoming a growing phenomenon among our pupils, and I see it expanding in the future,” said De Lille.
Hilton College dates back to 1872, when the only railway link in the province at the time was between Durban and the Point. Its founders, Gould Arthur Lucas and William Orde Newnham, opened the school a year later in accordance with the English public school system after the latter had purchased part of the farm he named Upper Hilton.
The college went on to become the province’s first school to play rugby.
The college’s property consists of 1 280ha and lies in the Umgeni valley. It is home to a variety of birds, including eagles, falcons, owls and sparrowhawks. As for the flora, the valley is covered with thick bush consisting of wild flowers and various species of acacia trees.