Gadra Education has announced the appointment of Dr Ashley Westaway as the institution's new manager.
Gadra Education has announced the appointment of Dr Ashley Westaway as the institution's new manager.
On 1 December Westaway took over the reins from former manager, Brian Fargher, who was associated with the Grahamstown-based educational NGO for 20 years, and has now moved on to focus on his work as a councillor in the Makana Municipality.
Gadra Education chairman Professor Paul Walters commented, “While we were sad to say goodbye to Brian, we are excited by the fresh energy and new vision that Ashley will bring to Gadra. Ashley’s perspectives have been forged over many years of distinguished community development work in the Eastern Cape.
Gadra is poised for all kinds of exciting expansions, building on its presence of over 50 years in the Grahamstown community.” The NGO runs various programmes including:
* Gadra Matric School – a one-year full-time programme of classes to prepare students to re-write selected National Senior Certificate subjects;
* Foundations for Literacy Programme – a curriculum-based intervention running in Section 20 and 21 schools in Grahamstown in partnership with the Department of Education, to improve basic literacy in the foundation and intermediary primary school phases;
* Business and Computer Studies Centre – a one-year full-time course for 24 students per year. Qualifying students write the City and Guilds external examinations and can gain this international qualification;
* Adult education classes – run on demand in the evenings using the Business and Computer Studies Centre to give basic and intermediate computer literacy courses;
* Bursaries for tertiary education – allocated on financial need and academic merit. Westaway is an Ashoka Fellow and highly respected development practitioner. He has a deep understanding of development needs in the Eastern Cape, having served as director of the Border Rural Committee for 13 years, an organisation whose work has transformed the socio-economic realities of the Keiskammahoek region.
2011 has been a year of significant change for Gadra Education and the Gadra Matric School in particular. The organisation has embarked on a major programme of strategic renewal designed to position it for increased delivery and impact, and greater sustainability.
The Matric School had its largest intake ever this year with 132 pupils studying to re-write their National Senior Certificate exams in November. “We are expecting good results for 2011,” said Melanie Lancaster, the school's principal. Westaway said it was, “a tremendous honour for me to be given the responsibility to manage one of Grahamstown’s iconic development organisations."
He also said that he hopes to transform the educational landscape in Grahamstown and beyond. "It is unacceptable that this town, with all its human and institutional capacity, remains characterised by deep, racially-defined educational inequalities.”
