Education and Skills Development

Foskor accommodates three schools on its premises at no cost. These are the Kingfisher Private School and Moshate Hotel School (Phalaborwa); and the Ntambanana Crèche (Richards Bay). Foskor is reconstructing the Ntambanana Community Centre in Richards Bay as a lodge for widows, orphans and other vulnerable persons. This community centre will be equipped with training facilities for business start-ups and will offer assistance to entrepreneurs.

Foskor is encouraging early childhood development training at a pre-school in Phalaborwa by partnering with the national Department of Basic Education in granting teaching aids and development programmes to educators in the region. Foskor also adopted the former Stanbury Primary School and renamed it Foskor Primary School in November 2009.

Foskor sponsors the University of Zululand’s Science Centre to ensure that Zululand’s communities have access to world-class science and technology apparatus. In collaboration with the Zululand Sustainable Development Forum, Foskor sponsors a Winter School for Grade 12 learners. The company also makes a grader available to local schools over weekends so that they can level sports fields or playgrounds, and repair pathways for pedestrians.

Foskor embraces the Dinaledi Maths and Science project, having adopted four schools: two in Limpopo Province and two in KwaZulu-Natal. The Dinaledi project enhances maths and science tutoring in secondary schools in preparation for tertiary studies. Dinaledi schools are earmarked to become centres of excellence and training for both educators and learners hoping to pursue careers in the maths and science fields.

Foskor funds two media centres. The Richards Bay Media Centre was founded in partnership with the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation and the Department of Education. This centre provides administrative support services such as faxing, photocopying, printing, risography (high-speed digital printing), document binding and laminating to 46 schools. Foskor gives both educators and learners access to data and information by stocking the library with relevant and up-to-date textbooks. At the Phalaborwa Media Centre in Namakgale, Foskor rents equipment and pays for the upkeep of the facility that serves as a resource centre for 75 schools.