The Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona in partnership with the Rotary Club of Pretoria are working to address the current fiscal deficit at the New Hope School (NHS) in Pretoria, South Africa.  Although a Government funded school for Special Needs learners, this funding is inadequate to cover expenses for the special needs students. 
 
NHS is a non-profit organisation and one of the largest schools for special needs education in South Africa. For more than 41 years, since NHS opened its doors, they have been providing the highest quality teaching for learners with cerebral palsy, permanent physical disabilities, metabolic disorders or syndromes, traumatic brain injuries and specific learning difficulties. 

It is the only school in Gauteng Province that specifically focus on learners that have Cerebral Palsy and have learning difficulties. They have three streams of learning (academic, vocational & life skills). Other schools only ​focus on one o​f​ the learning stream​s​. That’s what makes ​NHS unique.

Currently NHS has 410 learners receiving education from preschool to grade 12 as well as vocational and life skills.  Every one of these 410 students lives with a disability of one form or another.

The logistical and operational requirements of a school such as NHS are significant. As such the NHS governing body has to employ additional teachers, therapists, assistants and facilitators to ensure quality education to every learner from pre-primary to Grade 12 and in the skills phases of NHS. 

As the state only pays for a portion of the staff employed at the school, the rest of the funding needs to be generated from fundraising events organised by both teachers and parents, school fees and donors exclusively. The balance of the funding is made up via school fee increases, fundraising and sponsorships. The most critical need of the school is to find sponsors for needy learners.

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