A dream hall come true

KNYSNA NEWS - Until recently, learners and staff at Percy Mdala High School had to brave the weather to gather outside for assemblies and group activities – but now that is a thing of the past.

The school organised an all-day programme to celebrate its newly built hall, on Friday 17 May, which was constructed by Archway Foundation – an entity dedicated to building essential facilities in the Western Cape.

Established in 2004 by Garden Cities, the Archway Foundation will, by the end of this year, have built 100 halls in celebration of its founding company's centenary.

Starting off as a solo effort, the foundation's work is now done in partnership with the Western Cape education department. The halls are built to help redress the historic inequalities that exist in South Africa's education system. Because of terrain complications, the cost of the Percy Mdala hall exceeded R7.5-million.

Numerous appeals
School principal Nicholas Njozela spent the past nearly 20 years making appeals for a hall to to be built to anyone he thought could help but was continually met with disappointment – until his hope was revived after learning about a school in Mossel Bay that received an Archway Foundation hall, and he renewed his efforts to get one for Percy Mdala.

The school, which caters for 1 004 children and has 32 teachers, received a Science Learning Centre through a University of the Western Cape initiative also supported by the Archway Foundation, so Njozela took the chance to discuss the hall with Garden Cities Group CEO John Matthews under whose stewardship the foundation has thrived since its establishment.

Long waiting list
Njozela said he was advised to make an official application to the education department, which he did, but was told that the waiting list was very long. "However, last year I received the news that an Archway hall would be built at this school," said Njozela, adding that construction started in November.

The principal rates the academic benefits of the hall very highly, along with its use as an assembly and performance venue, as well as a fundraising facility. "We will be sharing it with the community to raise funds for extras like curtains and other necessities but there will be very strict regulations to ensure that the hall is preserved undamaged, and security will be high in the case of our hiring it out for community events," said Njozela.

Parents and the local community have been motivated by the presence of the hall, he says, and he will be relying on local adults, particularly parents, to help with the security and development of the hall.

Realising a vision
Each hall that is built chips away at the inequalities in the schooling system, "but it's still a very long way to achieving full equality in terms of facilities such as a hall at all Western Cape Schools", said Matthews, whose ambition it has been since his own schooldays, to help put a hall in every schoolyard in the Western Cape. "So we welcome the financial participation of other Cape corporations in helping to provide the rest of the much-needed halls."

Organisations and corporations that share Matthews' vision are invited to call him on 021 558 7181 to discuss a joint venture.

The Percy Mdala hall was officially opened on Friday 17 May, when different stakeholders attended the opening. Photo: Nwabisa Pondoyi