But Herker Vos, principal of Mamoratwa Farm School in Ottosdal in the North West province, says the dreams of her learners died before they even began: ‘A lot of children come to school to study for 12 years and then end up as farm workers. So they do not see why they should go to school – they’d rather stay at home and learn farming, for which they don’t need school,” she says.
Like many farmschool learners, these children come from poor backgrounds with parents who work on the farms and have little or no education at all. ‘They don’t have role models. They think these things like careers or cars are for white people and people in urban areas,” she says.
Vos decided to try and change the fate of these children. The school raised funds to start a company for post-matric learners to demonstrate that education can provide the key to new opportunities. Ten post-matric learners were sent for training in steel-furniture manufacturing in 1999. ‘We received training on how to make furniture and other things using steel, how to draw up a business plan and basic business marketing,” says former Mamoratwa student and current chairperson of the business, Petrus Pholoholo.
The company is located on the farm and run and managed by Mamoratwa graduates who pay rent and electricity to the farm owner. They make anything from dining room suites and candle holders to security doors and windows. They have sent one of their members on a computer course and hope to train more learners next year. They earn a minimum wage of R160 per month and extra commission if they bring in customers.
Pholoholo says the company has helped build his self-confidence. ‘If it wasn’t for the company, I’d either be sitting at home or working on one of the farms. But now I’m a businessman and I feel confident to compete with anyone in the world,” he says.
Mamoratwa was started 12 years ago with two classes. It now boasts 638 learners from Grade 1 to matric, 20 teachers, 17 classrooms, a fully equipped science laboratory and a home economics centre. A boarding facility is also available for teachers who live far from Ottosdal.
Vos says the classrooms, science laboratory, home economics centre and boarding facility were built with money from the provincial Department of Education, as well as with the money raised from the business world.
But the relative privilege begins for the youngsters before they even sit in their classrooms. Unlike the majority of learners at farm schools who have to walk long distances each day, learners at Mamoratwa use subsidised school buses. The school has four buses transporting learners at a cost of R20 to R40 per month, depending on the distance they travel.
In fact, Vos believes they’ve got it better than most everyone: ‘It’s easier here than in urban areas. Our children wear school uniform and they listen to their teachers.”