Building South Africa's future leaders through school-readiness
In 2020, COVID-19 severely disrupted our students and scholars. The most significant disruption, which resulted in a steep learning curve for many scholars and their parents, has been adapting to online or remote learning.
We believe that we should be supporting issues affecting children, including improving their school-readiness.
Standard Bank welcomes the opportunity to alleviate impoverished children's plight by providing them with much-needed school amenities. We have partnered with actor Vuyo Ngcukana to help build a bright future for South Africa's next generation of leaders.
We will be working with Vuyo to provide packs of stationery for primary school learners at Ennerdale Primary School.
"I have a passion and an interest in early childhood development. Education is the one thing that I know can change a person's life for good; the earlier that happens, the better the chances we have at giving our children a bright future," says Ngcukana.
The stationery will be handed over to the Ennerdale Primary School in the south of Johannesburg. Ngcukana adds that being a recipient of such generosity fuelled his mission of paying it forward.
"I picked Ennerdale Primary because I once lived in that neighbourhood, and I have a nephew who attends the school, and I have seen some of the challenges the kids and parents face. I know what it is like to struggle for things that you need to just be on equal footing with other children, to be at a disadvantage so much that you fall behind because of what you're lacking."
At Standard Bank, we understand that to drive Africa's growth, we need to make sure everyone has access to a solid education, skills training, life-long learning opportunities, as well as the necessary tools.
Many of our CSI efforts invest in education to contribute towards social and economic transformation by supporting the development of future-fit children who are ready for work in whichever way they'll need.