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What started in 2011 as a project to restore the lost glory of just one technical high school in Milpark, Johannesburg, has recently transformed into a programme spanning five provinces.
At John Orr High School, Sasol initially sought to build a pipeline of world-class artisans, technicians and technologists. After a lot of hard work and investment, we and our partners achieved that ambition and we began to think: if the John Orr recipe could work at one technical school, why not at others?
And so we started working on replicating the success achieved at John Orr, to create four more technical schools of excellence.
At the identified four schools, workshops, all equipped with SETA-accredited machinery and tools, were renovated and learners were given top-quality maths, science, and trade theory teaching. Teachers were given extra training to upskill themselves.
In 2017 learners graduating from this programme were put into a pilot project in which they were given 24 weeks of theory and basic practical skills development. They were then ready for work-based learning and took their trade tests. Within two years all 20 had qualified as artisans.
The foundation model soon caught the attention of one of the biggest contributors to educational development for sustainable change, the Kagiso Charitable Trust. We quickly realised that Kagiso was just the kind of committed, capable partner we could work with – to multiply our impact. And so, together, we have since transformed five schools in the Sekhukhune District in Limpopo into fully equipped technical schools of excellence. And we have done the same at one school in Mpumalanga and another in KwaZulu-Natal.
All in all, this partnership has resulted in expanding the Technical Schools of Excellence Network (TechSENet), which we initiated, from five to 13 schools. With multiple partners including the Kagiso Trust and the Department of Basic Education, we are helping to produce hundreds of energetic, empowered young people who can fix things and make things work. Who have the tools to get the job done.
After attending Barnard Molokoane Comprehensive in Parys, one of the TechSENet schools, Leah Menteshe went on to complete her N4 and N5 qualifications. Today she is working as a motor mechanic apprentice at Toyota.
“My goal is to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible on the workshop floor,” Leah says. “However, my real ambition is to study further and ultimately to move up the executive ladder. Thanks to the Sasol Foundation, I’m glad to say I received a really good grounding at Barnard Molokoane School.”
