November 29, 2002
By Sheree Russouw
THEY were neighbours for 60 years but they never really knew each other. Divided by a small wall, hearing-impaired children at St. Vincent's School for the Deaf in Melrose, north of Johannesburg, were separated from their hearing-abled peers at Pridwin Preparatory School.
But on November 20, Pridwin and St. Vincent's united to form a joint campus, and the imposing wall was torn down. As a start, both schools have agreed to share St. Vincent's tennis courts, swimming pool and soccer field, with the onus on Pridwin to pick up the tab for maintaining the sports facilities. St. Vincent's, a state-run school, educates children from a pre-primary to grade 12 level. Pridwin, a private school, is an exclusively boys primary school.
For Claudette Bogner, who has been the headmistress of St. Vincent's for the past 30 years, watching the children dive into their shared swimming pool and run together chasing balls around the soccer field is a heartening and novel sight. "I used to look out my window and just see the wall that separated us," she says.
"They were over there, we were over here. But now it looks so beautiful and so open. Our children now have the chance to mix socially and academically with children from Pridwin and that is so exciting."
In the past two years, teachers from the schools have been meeting to discuss how to share their resources, resources that were becoming increasingly meagre for St. Vincent's. A slash in its subsidy from the department of education meant that its grounds were deteriorating, and fundraising initiatives were the only means of paying some teacher's salaries. "We tried to maintain our sports facilities but we no longer had any money," says Bogner.
Pridwin experienced a surge in the number of its pupils, but did not have the sports facilities for them. "Now that we are sharing our sports facilities, Pridwin has the space it needed and we are saved the cost of maintenance. The arrangement is mutually beneficial," says Bogner. The next leap forward, she says, includes plans to build and share a technology centre.
Far removed from the affluence and privilege that characterises Pridwin, the bulk of St. Vincent's 167 pupils are from Soweto, Katlehong, Alexandra and Vereeniging. Now they will have the opportunity to interact with hearing children, which will improve their confidence, says Bogner.
"It is very important for deaf children to mix socially with hearing children. That way they can lose their initial shyness and embarrassment. For hearing children, it is as important to mix with deaf children because it opens up a whole new world to them."
Pridwin's pupils have already expressed their interest in learning sign language, and St. Vincent's will likely provide the expertise, Bogner says.
Pridwin's librarian Pam Nicolaidis agrees that the union will teach valuable life lessons to her school's pupils. "Pridwin pupils will now be exposed to children who are less fortunate than themselves. But they will also learn to respect and understand children who are hearing-impaired. And of course, they gain extra playing fields where they can interact."
And kids being kids, the swimming pool is a favourite hotspot. As he prepares to summersault into the pool, Cameron, a grade 0 learner, says: "I think it's nice to have a connection with the kids from St. Vincent's. Now we are together and we get to meet new people. We can swim together." Talking in sign language, 7-year-old Nellie agrees. "I like to swim. It's nice to meet the kids from the school next door."
While this educational marriage will not cure St. Vincent's financial woes, it will go a long way in helping it balance the school's books, says Bogner. The school still relies heavily on donations from the community to pay the salaries of seven of its 27 teachers. And in a country that only has 46 schools for the deaf, St. Vincent's survival is critical.
"It's still a struggle and a worry. We have to ask ourselves how long can we do it and what happens if the donations dry up. We can't plan for anything. Our future is uncertain, but getting together with Pridwin has helped us a lot."
