Walmer's Culture of Learning
Walmer Township is the oldest township in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, located next to the Port Elizabeth International Airport. Before the phasing out of the Apartheid government, Walmer Township had no high school to service its growing population. In 1991, Vernon Gamanda was established and merged with Walmer township’s secondary school, Zanamafa, to become Walmer High School in 2003. The faculty, staff, and administration at Walmer High have been endeavoring to fully support its learners and instill in them a love for learning since then. The school serves a population of approximately 1400 pupils, in grades 8-12, 100% of whom speak Xhosa as their mother tongue.
Principal Lunga Dyani is seeking to build an atmosphere of learning and inquiry at Walmer High School that will enhance the educational experience of learners and increase their communicative competence, allowing more students to pass their matriculation exams and continue on to tertiary level studies.
Our Principal: Mr. Lunga Dyani
Mr. Dyani, Principal of Walmer High School, has a passion for education that is highly admirable. He grew up in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, and prides himself on being a product of a township school similar to the one in which he now works. He matriculated from Cowan High School in New Brighton and went on to study at Vista University, now known as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
As a university student, Mr. Dyani studied English and Psychology, and finished with honors in Psychology. Once he finished his studies, Mr. Dyani began working as an educator. His teaching career began at Vernon Gamanda High School, where he taught English classes, in 1991. Only five years later, he became the principal of Zanamafa, the high school that at the time serviced Walmer Location. When Zanamafa merged with Vernon Gamanda in 2003, creating Walmer High School, Mr. Dyani took on the challenge of overseeing an even larger student body, one that now reaches 1400+ learners.
Mr. Dyani says his favorite thing about his job is that he is able to encourage Walmer's youth to value education. Over the last 15 years he has seen his learners, a handful at a time, transcend poverty, as well as all the socio-economic challenges that come with it. Thanks to Mr. Dyani, Walmer High School is locally considered "a township school that beats the odds."
Principal Dyani continues to strive to make his school the best educational facility it can be, or, in his words, "polish up a jewel to make it shine." He works above and beyond his job duties every day to ensure that the learners at Walmer High School understand that they can change their lives for the better through education, and their growing success stories give him the motivation to keep working. Mr. Dyani's biggest goal is for his students to break the cycle of poverty. He hopes his students will go on to make a name for themselves one day in the world.
Principal Dyani during Literacy Week, 5 September 2011
This website has been sponsored by Dimension Data & Walmer's 2011 Fulbright ETAs.
