As mentioned in the history of SHAWCO, after its shift away from a welfare model towards a development model in 1997, SHAWCO’s then “Youth Development” sector consisted of a scattered array of projects – each one focusing on a specific skill such as art or IT - without inter-project coordination and cooperation focused towards a cumulative, sustained and holistic impact on the learners involved.

In 2005, the students and staff in the newly named “Education” sector developed a new vision and three-year plan for the sector following what was termed the 'All Round Education Model'.

The aim of this model is to create the SHAWCO super kid: an individual who will, after their time in SHAWCO, be able to apply for and complete tertiary study, get a job and to be a responsible member of their community. A range of academic, life skills, IT and extra-curricular activities would be implemented in each of the 3 centres and 2 children’s homes that SHAWCO Education works in, reaching over 750 learners from grade three and continuing all the way to matric.

The aim for each learner participating in the SHAWCO programme was:

• to complete matric;
• to achieve better marks;
• to acquire relevant skills such as computer literacy, financial literacy and knowledge about HIV;
• to develop motivation, leadership ability and self-confidence; and to have better knowledge about opportunities available to them after school.

The SHAWCO Education Sector now runs 14 projects aimed at achieving these goals. Learners from Grades 3 to 12 are offered a core academic programme- English, Maths and Lifeskills in the younger grades, with Science and Biology being added in Grade 10 - with additional wrap-around programmes such as IT, Arts, Sports, Environmental science and various Holiday programmes. For those learners who are unable to access tertiary education, SHAWCO offers training in IT & Business Entrepreneurial Skills, in order that our participants can either become more “employable” or can start their own businesses.

Every week, student volunteers hop onto buses, are issued with lesson plans for the day, and are bussed out to one of our four Education centres: Khayelitsha, Kensington, Manenberg and Nyanga.