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EQUAL EDUCATION
Equal Education (EE) began its operations in
February 2008. The organisation describes itself as
a movement of learners, parents, teachers and
community members working for quality and equality
in South African education, through analysis and
activism. The goal of the organisation is quite
simply to ensure that every young person in South
Africa receives a quality education. The most
important participating group to date comprises
high-school students, known as Equalisers, mainly –
but not exclusively – drawn from poor and working
class homes, and attending severely under-resourced
schools. Organised into Youth Groups by grade and
geographic area the Equalisers have been responsible
for much of the activism, messaging and campaign
work that has built EE’s reputation. The weekly
Youth Group meetings have provided the intensive
intellectual and practical training required. In
addition to the Equalisers, teachers, parents and
community members have played an important role.
EE’s first campaign was titled “Fix our Schools”. It
began with EE responding to the problem of 500
broken windows at Luhlaza High School in Khayalitsha.
All Equalisers, from all schools, were active in
this campaign. The next major campaign was the ‘No
to Late Coming!’ campaign. The most recent and
pervasive campaign has been EE’s campaign for school
libraries.
The Claude Leon Foundation agreed to make a
significant contribution to the core operating costs
of running Equal Education in the period 2011-2013. |
