Two principals are bridging a chasm far wider than the Buffalo River valley that separates their schools, writes Janette Bennett
George Randell Primary principal Hilton Williams drives from his school in the elite suburbs of East London to the informal settlements in which Duncan Village Public School is located. Duncan Village Public principal Clifford Nquka receives Williams with a bear-hug.
These two men are firm friends. Their schools have twinned, partnering to share skills and facilities, spanning academics, sport, culture, administration and teaching. “It’s not a one-way arrangement,” Williams says emphatically. “This a partnership. We learn from each other all the time.”
Just over a year ago, the George Randell staff, all too aware of the stigma of privilege which comes with once being a Model C school, were discussing ways to empower a less well-off school.
At about the same time, teachers at Duncan Village Public – built with Reconstruction and Development Programme funds in 1999, but with no facilities to speak of – were looking for a partnership with a better-resourced school.
Williams and Nquka reached across the divide. The rest is history; and the result, a remarkable success.
It manifests in teachers and learners spending schooldays across the bridge, constant contact between teachers, friendships between learners, and a cross-cultural and cross-racial understanding.
When George Randell received 25 computers from Sasol recently, it handed several over to its twin. It’s now talking about organising water-safety sessions for Duncan Village learners. “Drowning is a major cause of death in South Africa,” Williams says.
Duncan Village Public, meanwhile, taught George Randell about drawing up action and management plans and making the most of scarce resources. It also shared its outcomes-based education material and training.
George Randell teacher Charmaine Bailey set up a chess club for the schools. Bailey believes chess, demanding concentration and logic, is one of the most valuable skills a child can learn. “You can play chess wherever you live; there are no restrictions,” Bailey says.
But it’s the breaks she finds most interesting, when the children sit down and talk to each other.
No-one was sure what to expect when grade four learners first spent time at each other’s schools.
“I thought: ‘How will they cope?'” says Duncan Village Public deputy principal Mkuseli Jongilanga. “To my surprise, they just played as if they had been friends forever.”
But the learners did more: “They touched each other’s hair, looked into each other’s eyes to see the colours, and even checked to see if their bone structure was the same. And then they discussed what they had discovered,” Jongilanga says.
Nquka recounts it like this: “Learners at George Randell had never set foot in this kind of environment, congested with shacks and so on. They asked all kinds of questions. ‘Where do people sleep?’ and ‘How can a family of five live in that two-roomed house?’ “And our kids — it was the first time they had seen swimming pools and computer classes. The children began to respect each other — they regard themselves as equals.”
Teachers have not escaped unmoved. “It was a real eye-opener to see how teachers were coping without resources. Some children don’t even have pencils – R1 is half a loaf of bread,” Bailey says.
For Nquka, it goes deep. “Transform our education,” says the message on his cellphone. “I listened to Nelson Mandela long ago when he said students must stay in school and learn. Even when I’m sleeping, I’m thinking about transforming education — now we are the change agents in education.”
The twinning experience, he says, is also changing community perceptions of township schools. “Parents are sending their children here as a first choice, not as a last resort if they can’t get into a former Model C school. They see that our teachers and our information is the same quality.”
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, November 2001.