IT is with great interest, yet sadness, that I read the letter ‘Top pupils poached at Zululand Christmas concert’ in the ZO of 15 November.
It is a well-known fact that many private education institutions use the methods described in the letter to enrol talented sportsmen, sportswomen and gifted students.
I am also a teacher and have a son in matric who has done well on the rugby field.
He has been approached on numerous occasions by these institutions to enrol at their schools.
However, I want to set the record straight and say that this is not true for all private schools.
I am a teacher at a private school in Richards Bay, one that believes that every child matters.
We offer no academic or sports’ bursaries as we value each and every individual.
In our school, each child is not a net sum of his/her talents and abilities, but we nurture each child to discover their destiny and use those talents to improve their community.
Their accomplishments are not used as marketing tools, but are seen as opportunities to celebrate.
Our school’s outreach programme is not used as a PR exercise, but instead we use it to teach our students that everyone matters.
Maybe my son would have had better sport opportunities at other schools, but the memory of him kicking a soccer ball around with children from a rural day care is priceless.
I would encourage parents to keep this in mind when offers of bursaries come flooding in.
ANOTHER TEACHER
