Teachers Without Borders Maths and Science Project 2002
Port Shepstone Report
As an African I can think of no better way of reporting on the success of Teachers Without Borders Maths and Science Project 2002: Port Shepstone than describing ubuntu, the philosophy of morality, humaneness, care, understanding and empathy, of sharing and hospitality, of honesty and humility, as defined in Mike Boon’s The African Way.
Ubuntu is best explained through the expression: umuntu ngumuntu ngamuntu, which means: A person is only a person because of other people. Rank means nothing unless one’s spirit and humanity are of the same stature.
Ubuntu is not empirical. It does not exist unless there is interaction between people in a community. It manifests through the actions of people, through truly good things that people unthinkingly do for each other and for the community. One’s humanity can therefore only be defined through interaction with others.
It is believed the group is as important as the individual, and a person’s most effective behaviour is in the group. All efforts working towards this common good are lauded and encouraged, as are all acts of kindness, compassion and care, and the great need for human dignity, self-respect and integrity.
With this in mind then, the credit for the success of the project belongs to all the roleplayers and they are, in no particular order:
Cassim Peer Trust
Hibiscus Coast Municipality
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture: Port Shepstone Region
Rotary International Hawaii District 5000
Rotary Club of Port Shepstone
Teachers Without Borders
Punahou School, Honolulu
Port Shepstone High School
South Coast Herald
South Coast Fever
Prentice Hall, Chicago
Texas Instruments
Capital Office Automation, Port Shepstone
Maths and Science educators, learners and advisers
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture: Port Shepstone Region, one of eight in KwaZulu-Natal, is aiming for 80% pass rate for Grade 12 learners in 2002. This is almost more than 9% than last year when our region came second by less that 1% to North Durban, a region highly populated with ex-Model C schools (previously white schools) and other privileged institutions, whereas we have a mere handful in our region.
Analysis of our results reflected the weak areas to be maths and science, hence the significance of this project and the importance of science being included in the project this year. Equally important is that the project continues. As a nation we are determined to make up the backlog caused by the inequalities and education policies of the past but as yet we cannot do it without the support and assistance of others, and we acknowledge the outreach from outside our borders.
We also cannot do it without the co-operation of the roleplayers at local level and it is important to note the hands-on involvement of both the Mayor and Speaker of Hibiscus Coast Municipality, the Regional Senior Manager of KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture: Port Shepstone Region, the president of Rotary Club of Port Shepstone and the Peer family, to name a few.
I have avoided naming individuals but Yunus Peer who initiated and spearheaded the project, and William Best, Michael Hu, John Proud and Michael Vogel who shared their maths and science knowledge with their South African peers and learners deserve mention, as well as my counterpart in Gauteng, Yunus Chamda.
In the past two years the project has had a direct influence on the lives of hundreds of maths and science educators and learners who have benefited from attending the 2001/2002 workshops in Gauteng and Port Shepstone.
Indirectly, thousands upon thousands of maths and science learners will benefit from what the educators who attended the workshops have and will be passing on to them.
And then there is the donation of Prentice Hall maths textbooks, initiated by Mike Vogel, and the very real possibility of further donations, and the graphing calculators donated to Vaal Triangle Technikon and the Durban Institute of Technology by Texas Instruments.
Impossible to calculate is the value of the project in terms of goodwill, intersectoral collaboration, future opportunities and the dignified upliftment of our nation but I know that history will reflect that it was significant.
Planning for Teachers Without Borders Maths and Science Project 2003 is presently underway and there is every reason to believe that come June/July 2003, South Africa will once again be proud to welcome our USA friends.
Pauline Duncan
Port Shepstone