Case studies: South Africa

Ergo model goes to the Eastern Cape

When AngloGold Ashanti began planning for the closure of its Ergo operation (to the east of Johannesburg), in 2005, the AngloGold Ashanti CSI Fund embarked on a three-year project to improve teaching skills and the literacy of children in 34 schools in the two townships most affected by the closure: Tsakane and Kwa-Thema. (See case study in the Report to Society 2004: Ergo programmes focuses on maths and science education).

Following this intervention, the Fund introduced similar programmes to schools in the regions of the company’s Vaal River and West Wits operations in 2006. (See case study in the Report to Society 2006: AngloGold Ashanti Fund and Trust empowering people).

The next step was to look at establishing a similar project in a major labour-sending area.

Addressing illiteracy in a labour-sending area

The manager of the AngloGold Ashanti CSI Fund, Sipho Mahlangu, explains: “When we began the Ergo project we did so with the intention of developing a model that could be replicated in other areas. This country faces a huge challenge when it comes to lack of skills and it starts with literacy because this affects the performance of learners in other subjects including maths, science and technology. We want to address this problem at its roots, by getting involved at the early stages of children’s education.”

When it came to selecting a labour-sending area, the Eastern Cape was a natural choice because large numbers of employees are drawn from here and because of this province’s high rate of illiteracy.

After a thorough investigation the Fund settled on the Cofimvaba District, one of the poorest and most neglected areas of the Eastern Cape and met officials from the district’s education department for discussions. AngloGold Ashanti’s wish to become involved in improving literacy levels in the district was favourably received and representatives of the department and the Fund set about selecting 20 schools.

In mid-2007 two courses offered by the Molteno Project (see accompanying box) started in Cofimvaba – Breakthrough to Literacy and Bridge to English. The AngloGold Ashanti CSI Fund approved a grant of R1,832,307 over a period of three years.

Both programmes provide training sessions for teachers who also receive follow-up support in their classrooms. “By focusing on the teachers we hope that these interventions will make a difference down the years. The Molteno Project courses bring new and innovative methodologies to the teaching of literacy,” Sipho said.

Breakthrough to Literacy

An evaluation carried out by the Molteno Project many years ago showed that learners were failing to read in English largely because they were not able to read in their mother tongue. Furthermore the research demonstrated that children who are taught in their mother tongue for a lengthy period will learn another language far more easily.

Breakthrough to Literacy is a first-year literacy course for schools, based on learner-centred and language-experience approaches. It uses the oral/aural skills the child brings from home into the classroom as the foundation for learning to read and write.

Bridge to English

This course follows Breakthrough to Literacy. It is a comprehensive English additional language course which has been designed to develop oral and writing skills, building on the language skills developed in Breakthrough to Literacy.

A series of systematic courses, Bridge to English addresses the listening, speaking, reading and writing needs of learners from grades 1 to 7. It focuses on language across the curriculum, thus preparing children for effective learning in all subjects through the medium of English.