Cape Town - Twenty-one Brandvlei Correctional Centre inmates who decided to pursue their education were celebrated at a graduation ceremony on Wednesday.
Family and friends arrived from near and far to support their loved ones, as they received certificates for completing the Ubuntu Learning short course.
The Ubuntu Learning initiative is a partnership between the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Prison-to-College Pipeline Programme, Ubuntu Learning Community and Stellenbosch University.
Dignitaries in attendance included deputy minister of Correctional Services, Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa, Western Cape Correctional Services Commissioner Delekile Klaas and Stellenbosch University chancellor, Justice Edwin Cameron.
Inmates entertained guests with poetry and musical items.
“Ubuntu Learning Community is unique and important because it allows us to kill two large birds with one stone.
“We were able to equip inmates with quality education while they reconnect with a vibrant section of society.
“We are particularly pleased with the collaborative, community-building and connectedness approach to learning because connection with students and being treated as peers prepares the inmates for life after release,” said Holomisa.
The interdisciplinary short course entails an equal number of Stellenbosch University students and incarcerated individuals studying together under the university’s academics. Classes take place in the maximum correctional centre.
Participants study history, law, English and economics.
The 2022 course had a gender focus, and the theme was “We are because I am. Changing selves and communities”.
Cape Times