I used to run a contemporary music school in Fourways, Johannesburg. It was there that I first started to realise the immense need and want for education. Situated next to one of Joburg’s largest informal settlements – Diepsloot – We often had walk-ins who expressed a keen interest to learn but no finances in order to do so. Following that exploit I was introduced to the non-profit sector by working for a multi-million rand NGO. At the same time as being exposed to how the system worked, I was shown how it’s abused and where it fails. By this time free education was my creed. I soon left on ethical grounds, and started a non-profit organisation with a friend. No funding and with barely any money to our own names, we attacked one of the oldest townships in the country; one that sits next to the richest square mile on the continent, Alexandra, with workshops and this simple belief – Education is inherently free…
If I possess the knowledge and skills you want to learn, say, writing, and we both didn’t have the money to buy a writing utensil and some paper, we’d find some sand and start writing in it with our fingers. The only necessary components in order for true education to take place are: the possession of knowledge, the will to teach, and the will to learn. Money serves only to refine. But let me not come across as naive by asserting that all we need do is realise free education in order to achieve it. In today’s world, where education is inextricably linked with technology, and even from a common sense point of view, money must be spent. How much we spend depends on why we’re spending it and how. But, in order for education to track an ethical and holistically beneficial path, it must always be based on the original necessary components. If education is primarily seen as a means to make money, free education cannot be achieved.
Since then I’ve gone somewhat rogue. I have written and designed a model I believe provides an effective foundation in achieving free educational offerings for the people of South Africa. Free educational offerings that benefit the entire social and economic structure. That is, business and the communities it exists in. I call it The Model Content, and this is my blog about trying to find ways of implementing it. I’m already 7 years down the line, so I’ll have to catch you up on the progression briefly before documenting up-to-date accounts.
Through Free Education we’ll learn more than we ever knew.
Finding Free Education 