South Africa will continue to face a severe skills shortage as a result of the poor educational foundations, particularly in the hard sciences, of most students who attend school in the townships. Past endeavours, such as the provision of tuition support in township schools, have not delivered the desired results, and the only thorough solution is one involving "full immersion" tuition. LEAP Science and Maths school is a full-time school offering almost double the normal classroom time, focusing on maths and science education, in addition to other learning areas.

 

The students of LEAP range in age from 14 to 20 years old and attend school on a daily basis from 8:15 am to 5:15 pm from Monday to Friday, with voluntary school on Saturdays. The majority of the students come from Langa. We have over 150 students divided into 8 classes including two classes in our "Foundation year" - a year of preparation for grade 10 entries. Each student is required to study seven subjects: compulsory subjects are mathematics, science, computer studies, English and Xhosa; one subject is chosen from history, business economics and accounting. One compulsory lesson of life orientation takes place once a day.

 

The school has an independent board of governors drawn from the education and business fraternities. LEAP welcomes and is keenly assisted by volunteers involved in various aspects including student tutoring, teacher mentoring, opportunity creation, workshop facilitation and fund raising.