Betesda Independent School – NPO – Save our school

I am emailing you on behalf of our many gifted children and hardworking, dedicated teachers. Our school, Batesda Independent School in Richard’s bay, is in need of a big favor in order for us to continue playing our role in the community and to continue with our social upliftment programs in giving quality education. Our school was established when there was a recognised need in the community for smaller classes to help those learners who needed additional attention especially learners who were struggling in mainstream schools. They find themselves being pushed to the back of the classroom and falling behind. Parents, in a desperate attempt, discover our school as the perfect opportunity for their children to find acceptance, love and educational structure which they have not previously come to know.

We are however, and have in the past, faced down a tunnel which sometimes seems to have no light. As we are all aware the economic circumstances in general have taken a downturn and this has had a severe impact on our school. We depend mostly on our school fees to be paid in order to make ends meet. We do not receive any financial assistance from the Department of Education, additionally we do not receive funding from local companies as we are a registered NPO (Non-profitable Organization) instead of an NGO (Non-governmental Organization). Parents, in their economic struggle, are finding it difficult to pay the school fees which are already lower than the average school fees. This trend has caused us to have an accumulation of debt that we cannot pay. Our teachers are being paid erratically, we have not had money to repair or uplift our school such as our facilities or classrooms, additionally we have not been able to pay our full rental fees, in total the amount of debt that we are facing has accumulated to R89 000.00.

These circumstances are heartbreaking not only for the teachers but the students alike as we have come to create an environment which fosters hope and love. Should our doors be closed, all of our teachers will be forced to face economic hardship and many children will be forced to find schools as soon as possible and during this time in the year, it is highly unlikely that they will be accommodated.

We humbly beseech thee to help us, we are desperately pleading so that we can continue uplifting the community by helping more and more children. We are in a situation where the learners in our school, including Senior's, need to write exams and we would like maintain our 100% Senior pass rate.