It takes a village: Bonnievale comes together to create 'zero-dropout school'

The official dropout rate at South African schools is between 37 and 42%. This is according to figures released in October this year by the Department of Basic Education.  In many communities, this rate is much higher. Dropout rates used to be very high in Bonnievale, a small Boland community nestled between the beautiful winelands and mountains of the Western Cape.  The community is plagued by alcohol-fuelled violence, broken homes, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancies and few opportunities.  But the community, local businessmen and the Western Cape education department 'willing to explore blue waters' banded together to change this. Out of this they built a new school, called the Jakes Gerwel Entrepreneurial School.  Philip Jonker, a wine farmer and the owner of Weltevreden Wines, who is one of the initiator of the project told BizNews how this three-stranded partnership came together to weave a chord that is hoping to pull every child in the area out of poverty and give them a future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices