Maru-a-Pula
Of the current student body, slightly more than 50% of the 588 enrolled students are citizens of Botswana. The remaining students are expatriates from more than 30 different countries. This extensive global mix provides an excellent opportunity for sharing cultures and developing international friendships based on tolerance and mutual respect. Classes are taught by experienced professional representing over a dozen countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Carribean, and North America. Of the 51 full-time academic staff, 22 hold advanced degrees. Our teachers—many of whom have dedicated their careers to Maru-a-Pula—commit themselves to academic excellence, setting high but attainable goals to inspire the best in each student. Maru-a-Pula's curriculum is based on a broad range of subjects for the Cambridge IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education). Featuring a 100% pass rate at the IGCSE-Level, our students' performance is consistently the best in Botswana. Students then narrow their subject choices for one year to AS-Level or for two years to full A-Level. Our student pass rates at A/AS-Level are outstanding: 94% in 2003 and 95% in 2004. South African universities recognize AS-Levels as an entry qualification and A-Levels are accepted worldwide. Maru-a-Pula has an impressive record of university placement in South Africa, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, and India, and counts two Rhodes Scholars among its alumni.
The concept of service is fundamental to Maru-a-Pula. All students and staff participate in at least one service activity each week. In addition to meeting the needs of the local community, this allows students to make connections between what they have learned in the academic setting and the realities found in the world around them. For our students, these experiences—whether they be teaching in village primary schools, feeding the destitute in the township of Old Naledi, or visiting sick orphans in Princess Marina Hospital—are often more powerful learning experiences than formal classroom lessons. Maru-a-Pula School is proud to be the home of Maitisong, the premier centre of the performing arts in Botswana, and of the acclaimed Maitisong Cultural Festival. Each year artists from around the world perform both for our students and a national audience on the Maru-a-Pula campus. Our school has outstanding programs in music, drama and art, and we are particularly proud of our marimba band, which has performed in Canada, the USA, and Brazil. The sports program is designed both to extend and challenge the top team player and to entice the willing enthusiast. Maru-a-Pula regularly fields national champion teams in basketball and rugby. Our facilities include all-weather basketball, tennis, netball, and volleyball courts, a 25-meter swimming pool, cricket nets, and football, rugby, and softball fields.
Maru-a-Pula is a member of the prestigious Round Square Conference of International Schools. This unique group of schools is pledged to further international understanding and to educate through service both at home and overseas. Through this organization, Maru-a-Pula provides students with unparalleled opportunities to spend time on exchange at outstanding schools in other parts of the world. Each year four scholarships are awarded to exemplary Form 5 students to attend post-graduate years at prestigious U.S. secondary schools: Taft, Hotchkiss, Catlin Gabel, The Hill School and Deerfield Academy. Aiglon College in Switzerland also offers two fully-funded places. Maru-a-Pula provides personal counseling, university admissions guidance, careers counseling, and assistance with study and learning difficulties. Photos by Illustrative Options
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Maru-a-Pula is a nonracial, private, coeducational secondary school
of 588 students located on a 50-acre campus on the outskirts
of Botswana's capital city, Gaborone. There are 118 boarding students.
For all of these accomplishments, Maru-a-Pula is still a young school.
In 1972, the President of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama, actively encouraged
the creation of a nonracial school, and the government of Botswana donated
the land. The founding Head was Deane Yates, previously Headmaster of
St. John's College in Johannesburg, R.S.A. One of the first members of
his staff was David Matthews, who succeeded him in 1981. The third
principal, Malcolm McKenzie, who took over in 1991, is a Rhodes Scholar
from Cape Town, R.S.A. Maru-a-Pula grew rapidly during its early years
as the USAID grants for classrooms and laboratories allowed the campus
to keep pace with the exploding student population. Even so, the school
has always had many more applicants than it can accept.
The Outdoor Education program at Maru-a-Pula takes place in two locations.
Form 1 students attend an outdoor camp at Bush Pigs in South Africa where
activities include bushwalking, abseiling, canoeing, and team-building.
Senior groups of students, as well as groups from overseas
schools, visit Mawana Nature Conservancy on the banks of the Limpopo River in eastern
Botswana to pursue project work associated with
their academic studies.