begun teaching the South African curriculum, mainly in order to facilitate registration of the
school with the South African Department of Education.88
Sexual abuse: the school attracted negative publicity during 2009, with allegations that two
of the teachers had sexually abused some of the girls. These allegations are shocking, and
deserve to be taken seriously. The need to examine these allegations exhaustively through the
courts has been recommended by Ann Skelton in her report on the unaccompanied minors to
the High Court in February, and the current authors would endorse this. However, we also
believe that it is not appropriate to condemn everything that has happened in this brave little
school on the basis of what may turn out to be a few rotten eggs. Sadly, if these allegations are
true, this would not be the first time a teacher has abused a schoolgirl in South Africa and the
solution is not to close down the entire school, but to convict the culprits.
Response to a need: as with so many other facilities set up to assist migrants, the school is an
ad hoc response to the failings of the State to meet its mandate. Recent research has shown
that as many as 45% of Zimbabwean migrant children in South Africa are failing to access
schooling89 – and Albert Street School was set up precisely to augment this gap. It is not only
Zimbabwean children who attend school here, but children of half a dozen different
nationalities, including inner city South African children. The school now has a full enrollment,
yet almost daily families arrive desperate to enroll their children.90
Photo 12: Albert Street School: best drama, best audience, individual awards:
Inner City Drama Competition, 2009.
Excellent results: schooling conditions are difficult at Albert Street – the classrooms are
overcrowded and rudimentary at best, and facilities are few. Yet the standard of teaching is
extremely high, as last year’s examination results are testimony to. The pass rate at Albert
Street School for Cambridge “O” level exams, set and marked in Cambridge, England, was 67%
in 2009 – a remarkable achievement. Very few private schools in Zimbabwe achieve this
result – and government schools have had an abysmal record in recent years. A further
88 Interviews, Albert Street School, March 2010.
89 CoRMSA; Protecting refugees, asylum seekers and Immigrants in South Africa; Johannesburg, 2008.
90 While spending time at Albert St School in March, the authors observed first hand would‐be pupils and
parents being turned away.
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