Total South Africa has sponsored the creation of a community hall for the Langa Education Assistance Program (LEAP) Science and Maths School, which has now officially opened in Diepsloot, Johannesburg. Due to the COVID-19 social distancing regulations, the launch took place virtually on 14 July via a video address to community members and the media.
"As a business that is committed to making a difference through dedicated Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiatives in the youth inclusion and education space, we partnered with Aveng Community Trust in 2018 to find a way to expand the school and possibly accommodate the facilitation of more activities like examinations and gatherings,” said Nne-Mpho Siaga, Corporate Affairs Manager at Total.
The LEAP Science and Maths Schools which was officially opened in 2011 through a partnership with the South African Corporate Aveng Group. The school is dedicated to providing science and mathematics lessons to learners in Diepsloot to ensure they are given an opportunity to excel in these subjects.
“Because of the pandemic, government has put a lot of pressure on schools to create space for social distancing and the hall will enable us to ensure physical distancing between people. This is a much-needed addition to the school and will be very helpful to both learners and the community as a whole,” said LEAP School Principal, James Malope.
He added that the hall has already provided a facility to serve the community during the national lockdown, as it was used as a collection station where community members have been able to receive food parcels. The food parcels were distributed to LEAP students and their families, under very strict social distancing measures while maintaining optimal sanitisation.
The hall will serve as an extension to the school providing a wider space that will be used to conduct classes and examination sessions, assessments, as well as to adhere to the recent social distancing requirements put in place.
"After two years of construction of the building, the structure now enables the school to resume operations during a global crisis, when institutions have to be compliant to the spacing regulations," said Siaga.
This specialised education equips learners as they follow career paths in the relevant industries, to help curb the national shortage of skills in these learning areas and talent shortage in the qualified workforce.
"This is essentially the reason that Total South Africa is invested in this institution as it drives inclusivity within this community and provides education to the youth," said Siaga