Zerilda Park Primary

During our project exploration process, we identified a strong drive in many areas to develop communities through local schools. Schools in marginalized communities can implement and sustain development activities because many possess:

  • Physical space
  • Basic infrastructure
  • A parent base that can support and serve as a market for products
  • Institutional and organizational capacity that can facilitate development projects
 
These school-based projects encourage greater interest in and participation in school related activities and encourage ownership of the school as a community asset.
 
Zerilda Park Primary is no exception to this approach.
 
The school has 31 teachers and 1182 pupils. It was built during 1985-1988 and officially opened in 1989 – one of the last schools to be built during the last political dispensation. The school was born into and developed during one of the most challenging periods in the history of our country – the old dispensation was ending and a new one was beginning bringing with it many uncertainties, fears and insecurities that communities experience during times of change.
 
Zerilda Park Primary, along with three primary schools and one high school serves the communities of Lavender Hill, Seawind, St Montague Village and Vrygrond (informal settlement). These areas were created during the apartheid era, when South Africa developed distinctly separate residential areas for the various population groups. Large impoverished poorly serviced townships and informal settlements were pushed out onto the urban periphery.
 
The legacies of apartheid in township communities are high levels of poverty, unemployment and under development. The impact of these conditions have been devastating leading to inherent socio economic problems such as crime, violence, gangsterism, drug and sexual abuse and the fragmentation of the family unit.
 
Surveys have revealed that:
  • Almost 66% of learners who started school in 1997 are unlikely to reach matric
  • 1997 saw a fourfold increase in imprisonment of children between the ages of 7 7 14 year
  • 25% of crime committed in South Africa is perpetrated by persons under 21 years of age
 
To combat these and other socio economic problems, Zerilda Park embarked on an ambitious programme of extra curricular activities:
  • Pre-school
  • Brick and block making (Job creation project)
  • Computer centre
  • Aftercare Programme
  • Teacher support Team
  • Music Programme
  • Library
  • Sport
 
The Solstice Foundation partnered with Zerilda Park Primary to fulfill their needs around additional Pre-school facilities.
 
Many children do not have the required personal and educational foundation to equip them for success in primary and high school. To combat this problem, Zerilda Park started a pre-school class in January 2001. The pre-school provides a safe environment free from gang-related activities and violence for the introduction of young children to a culture of learning. The first pre-school class was so well received in the community, that for 2002, 100 applications were received when the school could only accommodate 40. The school decided to address this need by using their brick and block making job creation project to build additional classrooms and the Solstice Foundation partnered with the school to achieve this.
 
An unemployed project manager was sourced locally to oversee the project and construction workers were recruited from the local community. Most of these were unemployed and they were assisted by various trades and craftsmen associated with the school in one way or another who would otherwise have been enjoying their builders’ holidays. Our committee kept tight control over the finances with a system of weekly draw-downs being requisitioned under signature of the project manager. Suppliers were paid directly and many of them allowed very generous discounts. The school Block-Making project was supported during what would otherwise normally be a dead period for them.
 

We were able to procure some additional funding from The Pierhead Rotary Club to ensure that two additional classrooms could be built, furnished and secured (in an attempt to prevent vandalism which is rife in the area).

 

Everyone involved, from the school staff, parent body, labourers, suppliers, artisans, our Committee and those that gave so generously to the fund raising effort, showed huge commitment and what has resulted is an incredible success story.