There is a new ‘low-fee’ school in Stellenbosch that is designed to focus on bettering future generations by creating a healthy framework for young men.
‘Calling Education’ is a non-profit organisation that is working to offer ‘low-fee’ schooling for boys. The model will focus on nurturing young boys into becoming well-rounded men within society. They opened their doors to 60 Grade 8 learners in 2018 and plan to grow from there.
The schooling curriculum will have a focus on higher quality education for poorer students. The aim is to break the historical cycle that is currently plaguing schools within lower income areas.
The innovative and multi-layered funding model used by Calling Education ensures a groundbreaking low school fee of R 6 000 per learner per annum, ensuring access to high-quality education for the poor. The school’s educational model majors on academic excellence, a future fathers curriculum, mentoring and leadership development while also extending its value proposition to include school lunch, sport and cultural activities.
The ‘future fathers’ curriculum will combat the lack of father figures within the young boy’s lives and help to nurture them into well rounded young men. These boys will be the change South Africa needs and all future generations will be better as the school grows and spreads across South Africa.
There are many educational perks the school plans to have:
- Academic excellence and innovation: A range of initiatives such as learner mindset investments, an extended school day, after hours learning centre, use of digital platforms, period length variations, early intervention strategies and autonomy development will be used. The school will follow the national curriculum.
- Small group mentorship: Part of holistic education with a foundational Christian ethos. These connect groups serve as the spiritual, emotional and motivational home of learners. Connect groups run by sports coaches, teachers and selected volunteers.
- A future fathers curriculum as an academic subject. The “fatherlessness” statistics in South Africa paint a sad picture, e.g. 61% of babies born in 2014 in South Africa had no details of a father on the birth certificate. The vast majority of children grow up without a father in the home and need a healthy framework regarding fatherhood.
- School lunch: Learners receive a healthy meal while school community is fostered.
- Sport or cultural activities: Compulsory part of school life with a focus on character development as an extension of mentorship programme.
- Integrated classroom with an envisaged minimum of 75% of learners hailing from poor communities.
- Exposure to high-level speakers and leaders on a regular basis.
- Relevant and focused subject choice to allow low fees.
The school model plans to have a fully functional school by 2021. Each year, they plan to grow the number of grades and classes. They also plan to have 12 schools across South Africa by 2040.
Calling Education’s initial focus on boys is not a consequence of gender bias but of the following factors:
- The enormous need regarding a lack of a healthy framework for fatherhood that exists across South Africa and Africa.
- The greater pressing need for English medium education for high school boys than for high school girls in Stellenbosch.
- South Africa’s existing single-sex schools are greatly sought-after and largely associated with prestige and excellence. Very few, if any, of the schools accessible by the low-income community, are single-sex schools.
- Single-sex education has definite merit and might be more suitable for some learners, particularly in the early high school years.
Calling Education remains open to the possibility of other types of schools apart from boys’ only high schools in future. Growth, interest, demand and success will be monitored and research will be conducted in early years in order to shape expansion strategies.
The school is having its open-day for 2019 on the 19th of April. You can find out more about the school on their website here.
Calling Academy – Open Day from OH NINE – film and animation on Vimeo.
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