OVERVIEW
Education and training An investment company is banking on private schooling.
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he private school market recently gained a new entry with the building of a Generation Education campus in Sunningdale north of Cape Town. With a Montessori-based curriculum and the backing of investment company Trematon Capital Investments, the school will initially be open for children up to 12. Trematon has exposure in the real estate market and is looking to expand the Generation Education venture. The private schooling sector is growing fast. JSE-listed ADvTECH has multiple school and tertiary brands. Schools include Abbotts College (which began in Cape Town) and Crawford College while there are several tertiary institutions in the company’s portfolio, such as Varsity College. Curro Holdings is also listed on the JSE and is rapidly growing its range of schools. It aims to have 500 schools by 2030. Curro’s tertiary brands have listed separately as Stadio, which has started with five institutions. The LEAP Science and Maths School model (pictured) is far from the JSE company model: these schools have low fees and raise funds to survive but they offer excellent teaching, particularly in mathematics, science and English. Two schools in Cape Town (and six schools in South Africa) enable children from black townships to do well enough at school in mathematics and science to go on to study engineering at university. WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2019
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SECTOR INSIGHT Apprenticeships are on offer from various institutions.
Skills training The South African economy needs skilled workers. The nation’s universities have a good reputation for teaching and research and the Western Cape’s three universities and university of technology are among the best, but the focus is shifting to training young people in skills relevant to the workplace. A Centres of Specialisation Programme has been introduced