The Hope Scholars team, led by Michel Roger and Bongani Ndubata, set out in February 2009 to identify the first cohort of thirty grade 9 learners at Zisukhanyo and Sophumelela High Schools to be supported by the Hope Scholars programme. Michel worked with large classes of students from the grade 9 class through his Arts and Culture courses, while Bongani led a team of tutors who provided afterschool discussion groups for the top-performing 30 learners (per cohort) from both schools.

The concept of the Hope Scholars Programme is to invest in an intensive, holistic programme for a select group of promising students and leaders, selected with the help of the schools, starting in Grade 9 and following them throughout their high school careers. The academic focus is on maths, the sciences, and English. The goal is to prepare the learners, academically and personally, for success at university and beyond.

In the township communities that the Hope Scholars Programme serves, only four of ten youth are able to graduate from high school. Even the brightest and most motivated pupils suffer from the significant disadvantages in the quality of their high school academic training. The most glaring deficiencies in the schools where SAEP works are in the sciences, maths, and English. The alarming state of education for South Africa's poorest serves to perpetuate a deep cycle of poverty.

This programme was designed based on SAEP's experience of over ten years working in township high schools and arises from the conviction that effective high school interventions must begin early and provide consistent support throughout the learner's high school career. The Hope Scholars Programme works with the learners after school Monday through Thursday, providing them with advanced tutoring, personal mentorship, nutritious snacks, weekend cultural excursions and enrichment, and holiday camps. By beginning in Grade 9, we hope to equip the learners with a solid foundation in maths and science and the fluency in English that will help them master these and other subjects. This level of academic and personal investment over four years will, we believe, result in mature, well-rounded students that are significantly better prepared - academically, socially and emotionally - for higher education, especially those courses of study that require a high level of attainment in maths, physical science, and life science. Understanding the background of our learners and the long hours they have to spend at school each day. We are also providing them with snacks in our afternoon sessions.

Last year, the results of the programme's inaugural year were encouraging. The Hope Scholars from Zisukhanyo maths scores increased from being 75% abover their peers in Term 1 to well over 100% in Terms 2 and 3 (i.e. their average marks were more than twice that of the rest of their grade).  The Hope Scholars "differential" at both schools (i.e. difference between Hope Scholars and rest of the grade 9 learners) increased through the year in the 6 curriculum subjects where we are not directly working (i.e. art & culture, Xhosa, life orientation, social science, technology and economic management science). This shows that the programme is improving their studies outside of the subjects in which we are tutoring them.

At the moment we have six tutors, three of which goes out to school each day. Our program runs Monday through to Thursday every week from 15:00pm till 16:30pm.