Celebrating 30 Years of KET
Knysna Education Trust started in 1993, when a small group of individuals intervened with concern that the standard of ECD in disadvantaged communities would not be up to scratch when the education system opened after the democratic elections in 1994.
Co-ordinated by Richard Sohn, the trust included educationalists Temba Mfene and Johannes Welskit; the late Murray Hofmeyr; Patrick Schwartz and Alan Graham, the then Oakhill headmaster.
In the beginning, children in need of support were identified and supported so that they could attend quality preschools. The trustees soon realised that adopting a selective approach towards young children in need would not make sufficient impact in the community. More focus was put into assisting ECD facilities in disadvantaged areas to improve the quality of teaching and overall standard of the facilities.
Since then, KET has continued to adapt and evolve to meet the needs of the community and the organisations service area has expanded to reach further outlying rural areas as far as Wilderness all the way to Natures Valley. Today, KET has 8 trustees and employs 27 staff, including the staff at The Learning Tree – KET’s model preschool.
Working to address all critical areas of early education through a multifaceted approach, The NPO acts as a security blanket for a sector with many challenges. The registration process can be confusing for those without the know-how and with government allocating little as R17 per day per child, even “funded” facilities face financial strain. The circumstances in rural areas lead to women opening their doors to take care of children despite having little business knowledge or early childhood development training. These facilities are not always structurally safe, parents struggle to afford fees and the children attending face hunger.
Supporting the women who run ECD facilities means protecting children’s basic rights to education, nutrition, and play. The registration team works with 130 ECD facilities to ensure the Children’s Act is enforced. With the regular training KET provides, teachers and principals are better equipped to create a stimulating classroom environment where children can reach the necessary milestones to help them thrive when they reach formal school.
The organisation’s play-based literacy (Fonix) and numeracy (Numba) programmes are implementable in all 11 official languages to entrench crucial early learning foundations. For those children who are ‘at-risk’ of falling behind, the occupational-therapist-led team provides regular intervention sessions. KET also collaborates with partners to ensure that children attending preschool receive daily, nutritious meals and fundraises to supplement fees where parents cannot afford to send their children to a facility.
From the support given through these programmes, ECD facilities become sustainable and health and safety compliant – producing bright young stars ready for formal school and equipped to thrive.
An example of this is Willowtree Educare Centre. The facility opened in 2014, in an area with many single parents who needed a place for their children to go while they were at work. A donation from PG Bison secured a building and has funded two teacher’s salaries since then. To help feed the children, Growing Upwards planted a food garden and trained the teachers to ensure its upkeep.
Initially, most of the children were placed on KET’s Adopt a Child’s Education programme – providing funds where parents could not afford to contribute towards their children’s fees.
KET then assisted Willowtree Educare Centre in having a building plan drawn up, guided them in administrative tasks, helped them become health and safety complaint and trained the governing body on good governance so that they could manage the preschool effectively. This led to Willow Tree finally being awarded registration with the Department of Social Development – securing them funding.
After this, an external funder approached KET with the means to help upgrade the building’s infrastructure and have a fence built to keep the children safely inside the property. They also assisted one of the teachers to become qualified, supporting her studies for two years. To this day, the teachers from Willowtree Educare Centre attend continued professional training workshops with KET and the children enjoy the Fonix literacy and Numba numeracy programmes.
There are countless ECD Facilities like this that have become sustainable thanks to Knysna Education Trust and its wonderful community of collaborators. However, there are many ECD Facilities still in the process of becoming self-sustainable. KET is very grateful for the organisations and individuals that continue to offer a helping hand. Together, we are creating a brighter future for all.