This web site summarises the work of a small charity that provides free tuition lessons for schoolchildren in the area of Knysna, Republic of South Africa. Last update: August 2010.

Charity number 1031 officially registered in the Isle of Man in October 2008. Please see this PDF for registration details.

Principles

• Helping poor children: South Africa - and the Knysna area in particular - has seen substantial economic growth in the last 5 years. However there is still wide income disparity and genuine need in terms of what some children can afford in terms of education.
• Focus on tuition: No charitable effort can be all things to all people. We focus only on extra tuition lessons - over and above any regular schooling.
• Zero administrative overhead: There is no diversion of funds to pay for administration of the charity. Those who help with organisation give their time for free.
• Free at the point of need: There is no charge to the schoolchildren who attend the lessons.
• Teachers remuneration: Teachers who provide the lessons are paid in full for their time - at a rate that matches their best alternative e.g. hourly rates for private tuition to richer children.
• Teaching materials: Reasonable expenses associated with tuition (stationery, calculators etc.) are covered in full.
• Trust: Teachers are not expected to go out of pocket for their work. They receive cash advances from the bank account set up in Knysna. The balance on this account typically never exceeds US$1000-US$2000. Sponsors top up the account as required.
• Accountability: Teachers are asked to keep simple records of expenditure. This is not intended to be demanding - we want them teaching, not doing bureaucratic chores. However sponsors have to be reasonably satisfied that the money is well spent.
• Small scale: We believe 'small is beautiful' and giving money in this way provides excellent direct benefit where it is really needed. Not much money goes a very long way.

Practice

At this time the charity suports just one Mathematics teacher - Michael Dragner. Michael is 55 years old, completed a four-year Teacher's Diploma after secondary schooling and has lived in Knysna all his life. He held various teaching positions and is now self-employed giving Maths tuition to private students and organisations like FLKS. We are currently looking to engage other teachers for 1) English and 2) Motivation.

Financial records

More details of our simple record-keeping here.

Help

If you would like more details on the work of this charity, please contact me (Frank Vipond) via email. More about me personally at www.frankvipond.com and my company at www.prosperoassociates.com. I am currently the major sponsor.

Donors and Sponsors

We gratefully acknowledge support from: 1) Harry and Bridie Cooper, Isle of Man, 2) Rotary in Knysna (funded extension of teaching to Sea Cadets), 3) Shimmin Wilson accountants, Isle of Man (free examiners reports), 4) Office Supplies Unlimited, Knysna and Casio Garden Route (free/discounted calculators and stationery), 5) Maeve Martin, Dublin, Ireland (gave her birthday pocket money).

From the UK Financial Times newspaper 24th January 2010

Regarding the government education system: Pass rates for South Africa's final school exams have plummeted again this year...."Schooling in South Africa is a national disaster" says Graeme Bloch, education policy analyst....up to half of all students never sit the matriculation (school leaving) test....many students who do matriculate are not functionally literate or numerate....many private companies run their own schools to bring recruits up to standard....chronic shortages of teachers in maths and science....government is putting fresh emphasis on numeracy and literacy....

Links

It can be difficult to find a charity in Africa to support. You can search for a charity in Africa on the Internet, but please be aware that charities may have to pay to appear in a directory of charities or to raise their ranking in search results. We choose not to spend money in this way. If we appear in lists of charitable organisations for free, we do offer reciprocal links from their web site to ours.

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