Through our work and ministry, we had come to see first-hand the massive crisis within education in South Africa…a huge proportion of our children cannot read and write properly, let alone add or subtract.

The issue with poor literacy had been identified through our Pray the Word teaching sessions wherewe gave children New Testament Bibles.  They struggled to read them. Some of the Children in the centres are in Grades 5, 6 and 7.   The South Africa Minister of Basic Education at the time confirmed our concerns when he made an appearance on national television and said that 86% of the Children in Grades 4 to 7 could not read and write.

Maranatha decided to tackle the Education Problem – initially within the Orange Farm Township.

We put together a Christian based curriculum covering Grade R to Grade 3.We trained 10 Teachers in 2013 and appointed 5 of them full time and 5 of them as volunteers.  We adopted 10 Crèches (Pre-Schools) in Orange Farms as a Pilot Project during 2013.

At the end of November 2013, we conducted an evaluation as to whether the venture was worth its salt. Parents, teachers from public schools where these other children were attending came and with a unanimous decision gave the project a thumbs up.

At the start of 2014, we added 10 more Crèches in our adoption strategy and trained 10 more teachers, on a voluntary basis, with those who were volunteers becoming full-time.

We are in the process of building 3 classroom structures on our Church land in order to complete the pilot project. We will conduct the pre-School training (Grade R) and conduct a Grade 1 class as well. In 2015, these will be Grade R, Grade 1 and Grade 2.  We will expand across the year groups moving up a year group each academic year.

We aim to provide stationery for all the children in the centres and in the Crèches, subject to funding.  Remedial Classes are being taught using specialized teachers, in Grades 2 to 7.

Early 2014, we obtained a 98% overall pass in all Grades (in the Main Centre).