Experian SA refurbishes the St Ansgar’s Combined School
South Africa, 27 November 2013 – Christmas has come early at the St Ansgar’s Combined School this year through Experian SA’s dedicated community involvement project, part of its Heart of Experian programme.
Experian SA assisted the school with the refurbishment of the school buildings and grounds. Experian employees painted eight classrooms, fixed broken desks, gutters and windows and upgraded the gardens at the school.
Other enhancements included tiling, the provision of new chairs, book shelves and steel cabinets, fixing windows and installing burglar proofing on all class room doors.
The 24-classroom St Ansgar’s Combined School is situated in Lanseria – north-west of Johannesburg – and was founded 27 years ago. Currently 860 children from the informal settlements in the area attend the school. Many of their parents are unemployed or bring home little income at the end of the month.
“Learning should take place in a clean and conducive environment,” said TC Ngwenya, St Ansgar’s Combined School principal. “The upgrades to the school mean a tremendous amount to us and will definitely provide a better and brighter learning environment for our learners, who travel more than eight kilometers from areas such as Diepsloot, Honeydew, Zaandspruit, Malatjie, Cosmo City and Rhenospruit to come to school.”
“Experian SA is the first private sector firm to provide this kind of assistance and we appreciate all the help we can get. There is still a lot to be done. Our school doesn’t have science and media laboratories but we believe that Experian SA’s help will open many doors for future initiatives,” concludes Ngwenya.
According to Managing Director at Experian SA, Michelle Beetar, Experian empowers its employees to make a positive difference in the communities in which they live.
“We encourage our employees to pursue their individual passions for community betterment. In addition to refurbishing the school, our staff members also participate in a feeding scheme that supports St Ansgar’s Combined School, Blair Atholl Primary School, and Rethabile creche – all situated in Lanseria,” said Beetar.
“Through the Heart of Experian, we proudly contribute to many employee-driven initiatives including the feeding schemes and Habitat for Humanity. Financial literacy initiatives are also key to Experian as credit and finance related knowledge can pave the way to a brighter future for any family or learners,” she said.
Experian is committed to educating learners about the benefit of understanding a credit report, responsible credit and the importance of building a good credit history that they will need after their school years.
Experian SA encourages bread winners in every household to take advantage of the free annual service provided by the credit bureaus, as prescribed by the National Credit Act, which gives them the right to access their credit reports once a year at no cost.
ENDS
Taryn Stanojevic
Experian South Africa (Pty) Ltd
+27 11 799 3434
Taryn.Stanojevic@experian.co.za
Meropa Communications
+27 11 506-7333
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2013 was US$4.7 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.
For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.