Canyon cultivates future farmers

Canyon Coal held a celebratory function at the Beestepan Agricultural High School on 15 May 2019, to mark the official handover of the R1.45-million worth of renovated facilities as part of its social and labour plan (SLP) initiative for Singani Colliery.

The school is located in Middelburg, approximately 34 km from Singani Colliery. It is a no-fee public school with limited resources and caters for learners from the underprivileged surrounding communities.

Canyon Coal Social Labour Plan Manager Melissa Pillay, who was responsible for the planning and execution of the renovations, explains that work on this project started in June 2017.

“We were provided with a list of needs by the school’s leadership and discussed how best we could assist them,” Melissa explains.

Canyon has met many of the crucial needs of the school. They include extensive refurbishment of the school’s workshop by stabilising and reinforcing the structure; maintenance to the classrooms; upgrading of the girls and boys toilets; purchasing of new agricultural tools to enable the learners to work safely and make full use of the facility to complete all curriculum requirements, and construction of two broiler units.

Raising of chickens in the broiler units form part of the school’s academic programme. The chickens are reared by the learners and sold to the surrounding community. This helps the learners to get an introduction to market dynamics while raising income for the school.

Other upgrades include the painting and waterproofing of the school’s leaking roofs. The old broken brick fence of the school, which posed a security risk for learners and staff, was replaced with a fence around the perimeter of the school, along with access gates.

“The inclusion of schools as part of Canyon’s SLP commitments has ensured that we can provide much needed resources that will assist in improving the teaching staff and learners learning environment.

A better learning environment will make certain that the needs of the children can be met during teaching time. This is the first step to a better future for the learners which will have an impact on the development of a better South Africa,” Melissa states.

Appreciation Shown

Beestepan Agricultural High School Principal Khumbu Zulu conveyed her heartfelt thanks to Canyon at the handover, stating: “I am honoured to be part of the upgrades project that was so selflessly and diligently carried out by Canyon Coal. It is important for me to point out that we are a no-fee school, which means we have very limited resources, and sadly receive minimal support from the many businesses that operate near our school.”

Zulu remarked that the upgrades and supply of new equipment have already made a meaningful, positive difference to the lives and educational endeavours of the school’s learners.

Nonjabulo Ngwenyama, a grade 12 learner, thanked Canyon on behalf of learners: “We truly appreciate the good things that Canyon has done for us at Beestepan. I am deeply touched by the beautiful facilities that you have provided us with and call on my fellow learners to take good care of them to ensure that learners for many years to come will benefit from them.”

In appreciation of the tremendous efforts of Menar and Canyon Coal, the school handed over a Certificate of Appreciation to Menar chairperson Mpumelelo Mkhabela