The overall benefit of the BEF programme is helping our students to a brighter future – for themselves and their families.
However hidden behind this aim and being the most important achievement for us, is to create a critical
mass of students and their parents, equipping them with the knowledge and experience of how to qualify and apply to get into a university or any other tertiary institution.
Today this critical mass consists of 44 graduates and their families as well as the 5 currently at university who also mentor the newcomers. Suddenly the whole narrative has comes alive: “Don’t worry, we will help you, show you how to apply for admission, get bursaries and accommodation. We will show you all the pitfalls and we can testify that it is not beyond the reach of ordinary citizens’’.
95% of students in our program are first generation tertiary students i.e. no family member has studied at university before. They are now being guided by their next door neighbours so to speak and the pool is expanding every year. We have now reached a situation where the mentors can stand back and allow the Botrivier community to help and propel this development exercise themselves. It is a self-driven project rooted from deep within the community.
In 2024, BEF takes its programme to another level by introducing Coding Classes to all our learners. In this programme the younger children will learn to do the Scratch programme and older learners will learn Python which is the most used coding language driving the Artificial Intelligence which is revolutionising the world of work. We don't want our learners to be left behind like so many learners in our state schools.
Education outcomes in South Africa remain appalling when compared to other countries in Africa and the world. The BEF programme is profoundly simple, but our results demonstrate that it is effective. Learners in Botrivier remain seriously disadvantaged because there is no High School and learners have to be bussed to school. The daily commute accumulates into many hours that could be spent more productively, and even bright learners become demotivated. The BEF programme offers critical support to learners through primary and high school to keep them on a trajectory for success.
What do we do?