Delegates of the German Embassy and German Goethe Institute visited Mangaung shortly before the end of 2016 when they attended the launch of Tsoseletso High School’s Deutsche Pasch Schule (school).
The school’s new status includes a huge donation of new technology, such as a Smart Board and new computers in the German class, installed by the institute. It also involves the provision of learning materials, as well as two additional scholarships for students to study the German language in Germany annually. Tsoseletso is now one of five German Partner Schools in the country. The other schools that share the Pasch status is High School Witteberg in Bethlehem, Linden High School in Johannesburg, Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and Mbambangalo High School in Pietermaritzburg.
Pasch stands for “Schools: Partners for the Future” and comprises a global network of more than 1 500 schools that put a high value on German. It is an initiative of the Federal Foreign Office in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA), the Goethe-Institut (GI), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Educational Exchange Service of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (PAD).
Elna van Rensburg, Tsoseletso’s German teacher and the steering force behind the project, said the school’s success can be attributed to the motivated learners who are doing their best despite having German as an extra subject, the continued commitment of sponsors who believe in the school, together with the continued support of the wider community.
“Being named a Deutsche Pasch Schule will enable us to assist students to do so much more. In addition to the exchange programmes there are many courses in South Africa that learners can participate in. In August this year, for example, two of the school’s students will participate in a German media course in Durban.”
Sponsors and other parties that financially assist the school’s German pupils to participate in the youth exchange programme in Germany also attended the event. Two groups of three learners each will return on 17 January from an exchange programme. Their German tours started on 2 and 14 December. The school has already sent 36 students to Germany to participate in the exchange programme since 2006. – Maricelle Botha
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Tsoseletso becomes part of German Partner Schools
Reitumetsi Mbele, Letshego Moadira, Mosa Mariti, Revi and Deena Pillay (sponsors of the group), Elna van Rensburg (German teacher), Thato Tshabalala, Tshegofatso Tsipane and Ndumiso Mogapi. The group was also sponsored by the Free State premier, Ace Magashule, who has been sponsoring the German project of the school with
R350 000 for the past four years.
