A large group of residents responded recently to the call from Adult Basic Education and Training (Abet) for education empowerment. The Abet centre set up a new satellite office at George Dickerson Primary School where young people and adults of the area came to register.
A large group of residents responded recently to the call from Adult Basic Education and Training (Abet) for education empowerment. The Abet centre set up a new satellite office at George Dickerson Primary School where young people and adults of the area came to register.
Abet Centre Manager Siviwe Gacula said the new satellite office will soon be one of many in Grahamstown, with another already in the pipeline for Hooggenoeg.
Gacula explained that this satellite office will be offering a level 1 course (for people who can’t read and write yet) up to level 4 (equivalent to Grade 10 and 11).
The sessions are scheduled four times a week, focusing on different learning areas, such as English, Numeracy and Mathematics.
Abet educator and facilitator Khayalethu Kepe said, “Throughout the years we have been preaching the Millennium Development Goals.”
Kepe was referring to the eight objectives world leaders have agreed upon, the first of which is to halve poverty by 2015.
He added that these Abet satellite offices allow for basic education in areas where it is most needed and is aimed at achieving universal primary education.
Kepe said the areas are faced with high rates of crime, HIV/Aids and unemployment levels. “Our only tool is education to address those challenges,” Kepe said.
Christeice Duiker, an educator at the George Dickerson satellite office, said, “A lot of youth and adults do not have any education.
According to my observations they have had to leave school because of the challenges they experienced in life.”
Gacula added, “People are given a second chance to do what they could not do before.” He said that he believes education really is the key to successit's not merely a cliché.
A resident at the registration, Rose Mapaling said this education beats unemployment. “Sometimes we have the knowledge but not the papers to get the job we want,” she said.
