In 2020, Tronox Mineral Sands donated R200 000 to Diazville High School to fund the school’s three School Governing Body (SGB) posts.

Diazville High School is situated in Saldanha, Western Cape, with most of their learners coming from socio-economically challenged backgrounds.  The school currently has 1 550 learners and a diversified staff complement at the school. Diazville High School is a fee-paying school with funding received from the National Department called Norms and Standards which is an amount received per learner.

The school’s relationship with Tronox has developed over the last ten years, with Tronox now being the school’s biggest donor.

“Our relationship with Tronox has covered many areas at our school over the years with the funding currently received being used to pay for our SGB posts. We are confident that our relationship will continue to grow from strength to strength in the future,” said Diazville High School Acting Principal Paul Haricombe.

The biggest challenge in 2020 during COVID-19 lockdown levels 5 and 4 was the school being closed for a two month period.  When the schools opened on  May 25, 2020, only the Grade 12’s returned with the main focus being on covering the curriculum.

“Our main focus was covering the Grade 12 curriculum because the Department informed us that the question papers had already been set for the end of the year and that learners would be assessed on the full curriculum,” said Haricombe.

Diazville High School Grade 12’s achieved a 77% pass rate in 2020 with the highest number of learners passing Grade 12 to date.  For the first time ever, a learner achieved an “A” aggregate as well as the school’s highest number of Bachelor passes for University entrance, despite the challenges learners faced.

“At school level we really tried hard to keep learners motivated under very difficult conditions, but we received a great deal of support from the Western Cape Department of Education supporting the Grade 12’s by offering extra virtual classes and, fortunately as a school, we were able to give every Grade 12 learner a Chrome Book to take home so they could access info and lessons. Data was a challenge, but most parents installed Wifi giving learners the advantage of studying from home,” said Haricombe.

Tronox believes in partnering with communities by investing through its Corporate Social Investment Programmes and strengthening the relationships it has.

“Tronox is committed to addressing the socio-economic challenges of our communities and has a direct interest with our schools at all levels by ensuring that we promote sustainable and high-quality education,” said Tronox Regional Manager: Communities and Corporate Affairs Nozuko Basson.