Having saved on 50 km trip of not having to pick up the district official from Cofimvaba we arrived just after 8. The school was in session and we opted to wait until the classes had their next break before setting up. The decision was taken to combine the both classes of about 60 and to then have an extended session.

Despite the intense labour demands of setting up the Interactive whiteboard the returns on investment are enormous. The structure it provides to the lesson is enormous while having so much at your fingertips, even in rural schools. It certainly kept their attention focused on the board.

Well, this is where it all happened for this trip so far. Having no resources does not mean that they cannot produce talented learners. I found two young men itching to answer complex questions despite the language differences. I could see them motioning with their hands as to what the answers were. There was pride in their eyes as they shared their thoughts with their peers displaying great insight and maturity.

The session ran for over 2 1/2 hours and yet it felt as though the lesson was over before it started. It ended with what has become a tradition for my training session with the customary singing in celebration of education as only African voices can do. I get goose flesh everything I think about it and realize how lucky I am to share a few precious moments with these learners who are hungry for knowledge.

This school stands out like a sore thumb as it is a new building surrounded but mud huts. On arrival were discovered a well-run organization serving a large community.

Despite the new buildings there were the usually signs of neglect in the form of poorly maintained furniture. This seems to be a recurring theme with all schools. The district official, reportedly that all schools receive an allocation for repairs and maintenance. One would assume that if this were spent correctly there should not be any broken furniture or windows.

The SMART board was deployed for the two sessions. I am confident that it contributes positively to the lessons.

Imagine being very focused on energy transformations and trying to think of the next logical step when the resident goat walks past the door. It is no wonder that they cannot maintain a school garden or vegetable patch.

I was pleased to note that 2 learners showed potential. This was confirmed by the district official. The biggest compliment was from the district official who wanted to do some work as she was under pressure. Despite this she was so engrossed in the lesson that she did not do any work and expressed an interest in studying science as she was very inspired.

We came away with the impression that this was a normal school where the community was fortunate in having such facilities. On leaving the area we stopped off at the school for the next visit to meet the principal and to confirm the arrangements so that there was no need to rely on the District Education Department all the time.

The Zamuxolo school was in a poor state of repair and I did not expect much for our visit.

The school was in a poor state of repair. Apparently the Grade 6 and 7 learners were attached to another school and were reallocated to Arthur Mfebe this year. Due to internal politics and union issues these learners have received no tuition for the year in Mathematics and Science with no solution in sight.

There are plans to convert the school into an agricultural institution. The need is there as the community has plenty of water from the Lubisi dam near Cofimvaba which is channelled through irrigation furrows. The whole valley is littered with the remnants of houses for agricultural advisors that were destroyed due to political infighting. Sadly the community are the biggest losers.

We arrived to find the venue being cleaned with plenty of dust flying and desks and benches outside. I was under the impression that the venue had not been used for some time where the ceiling boards falling down, broken windows everywhere and bare wires protruding from none existent plug fittings. It was very depressing.

I took the decision to deploy the SMART interactive whiteboard after a power cord was extended from the next building. The learners responded as expected but no learners really stood out.

Completed the capturing of the data from the current questionnaire administered.

One issue that stands out is the huge age difference in each grade. There are 20 year old male students in the same class as 12 and 13 year old girls. This is a cause for concern especially from a social perspective and is prevalent in all grades.

I need to confirm such issues as to when these learners are exposed to English in these schools as many learners lack the ability to express themselves in English. From my observation many learners simply replicated the words that were written on the chalkboard when ask as to what they had learned for the day. Another trend that emerged was the issue of copying answers including the spelling mistakes.

Each comment was tagged according to key words and this will be analysed for trends per grade, school and gender.

I am still convinced that there are a few rough diamonds amongst these schools that need to be tagged with the view to channelling them into more advanced programs. These learners certainly stand out amongst their peers.

Preparation is under way for the next round to training in Cofimvaba starting 28 July 2014. This will include the use of a SMART Interactive Whiteboard into the presentation coupled to a web cam. This will allow all learners to view what is happening in the demonstrations.