Sappi Editorial Feature Enabling Children to Speak Out in Their Own Voices

It was a concerned and caring teacher who encouraged the celebrated American author, Maya Angelou, to speak out in her own voice. This intervention was to turn the tide on the poverty and abuse she suffered and was to lead to her becoming one of Americas greatest living writers. Such is the power of good education and it is every South Africans dream to hear the children of our own country speak out in their own voices. This, of course, requires empowered and enabled educators - and the challenge of ensuring that they are properly equipped in all respects cannot be underestimated. To this end, former President Mandela has made it his late-life mission to destroy the bonds of poverty and to provide suitably-equipped schools and appropriately trained educators for the countrys poorest communities. He has done this by encouraging smart partnerships between government and the business community, harnessing the power of the public and private sectors to eliminate illiteracy and sub-standard education in South Africa. Sappi, the worlds leading producer of coated fine paper and chemical cellulose, is one of the corporations that has entered into partnerships like these, focusing on the areas in which the groups operating units are situated. In education, Sappi invests on four major programmes, the Programme for Technical Education (PROTEC), the Penreach Outreach Programme and the two group-sponsored educational resource centres, one in KwaZulu Natal and one in Mpumalanga. Sappis commitment is to contribute towards enabling and empowering the communities in which the groups mills and forests are situated, says Andr Oberholzer, Group Head Corporate Affairs, and we try to take a broad-based approach. We focus on supporting both technical and general education and on empowering educators and learners alike.

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Aware of the influence of empowered teachers, Sappi is a founding sponsor of the Penreach Outreach Programme. Together with Nelspruit-based Penryn College, the group began the programme in 1993 with the aim, at the time, of upgrading the skills of the 40 teachers in Sappis forest schools. By 2004, over 4,000 educators were attending the programmes monthly workshops, making Penreach the largest schools-based outreach programme in Africa. Through these committed individuals, some 300,000 learners in more than 300 schools are benefiting from a vastly enriched education, supported by a range of educational materials also sponsored by Sappi. In fact, the Penreach model has been so successful, says Oberholzer, that it is being documented by the University of the Witwatersrand for possible use throughout the country, as well as in the rest of Africa. Another Sappi success is PROTEC. Established in 1995, it is a supplementary career development programme for high school learners in Grades 10, 11 and 12 and aims to promote mathematical, scientific and technological education amongst those from historically-disadvantaged communities. The group has been a major sponsor of the programme since its inception and 40% of PROTEC's branches are either fully or partly sponsored by Sappi. The challenge of redressing the inequalities of the past in these fields of expertise is significant, says Oberholzer, and, as a key role player in industry, the group feels it is an important part of its corporate social responsibility to create a solid foundation for the scientific and technological leaders of tomorrow. The need for educator and learner support is equally required in general education as it is in scientific and technical education. It was with this need in mind - and in consultation with local communities - that Sappi established first the KwaDukuza Resource Centre in Stanger and then the Umjindi Resource Centre in Barberton. Both centres provide resources and facilities for the local communities and for rural schools in the neighbouring districts. Each provides resources such as computers, Internet access and adult literacy programmes for the whole community, as well as books, video cassettes, VCR machines, biological models and scientific kits to support lessons in schools. Empowered educators create empowered learners and they, in turn, will become the empowered adults that will take our country into the future, concluded Oberholzer. ends. (Word count, including heading: 675)

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