It was a practice in ancient Israel that at harvest time, farmers had to leave the corners of their fields untouched; allowing the poor, widows, orphans and strangers to collect the remaining crops and enable the vulnerable in society to feed themselves. Newton College is not in the business of farming but we are in the business of helping people pick up the pieces of a lost education and give them the opportunity to begin again, but this time equipped with a school qualification. In 2017, The South African Journal of Education, stated that only 52% of children that start school, complete their schooling to grade 12. There is no society in the world that can progress where almost half of its population remain without a school education.

Newton College provides the structure and support, where anyone, at any age, can decide to return to school. We facilitate teacher directed tuition over the course of approximately 10 months, for anyone who left school without achieving their matriculation certificate. We opted for classroom teaching, as opposed to online or correspondence tuition, because if someone left school prematurely, their ability to self-study was never fully developed to begin with. That being the case, we believe that guidance from an experienced teacher in a classroom setting, is fundamental to the success of an adult returning to complete their schooling.

What are we looking for from you? Newton College wants to extend our reach to those at risk in our society by subsiding students’ tuition fees, as finances are a major barrier to education in South Africa. Although, Newton College already has an initiative that for every 15th fee paying students we enrol one non-fee paying student, this is inadequate for the need that exists in our community. Our goal is to fund at least 20 young people in 2020 to finish their schooling. We reached this target with the help of a trust. Now we want to raise funds to assist those who qualify to write their senior certificate examination in 2022.