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 2010 has been a challenging year for everyone involved in education in South Africa. The Soccer World Cup and the public servant strike was responsible for a loss of at least ten weeks of teaching and learning.
A Corporate Social Investment partnership was established between Cell C (funder), and Maths Centre (service provider). The partnership's main target was to provide Grade 12 learners at selected schools with revision sessions for Mathematics and Physical Science.
Eastern Cape
Mr. P. Sinuka, (DCES-MSTE), Eastern Cape Dept of Education, expressed his department's sincere gratitude for the Cell C intervention.
The project started on the 12th October 2010. All 24 schools were informed about their participation in the Cell C project. The Cell C project was well received by the Department of Education, Principals, Head of Departments, Mathematics and Physical Science Teachers.
Maths Centre has designed a model bearing in mind that schools are scattered all over the Eastern Cape. Distances are varying from 20 to 600 km within the same province from the Centre. With the help of the principals, 24 Maths and 24 Science teachers were appointed to start the project on 16 October 2010. Maths and Science teachers had to address the common gaps identified from the trial examination during these sessions.
The DoE, Eastern Cape, principals, teachers, learners and parents thanked Cell C and Maths Centre for the effective support given to the learners.
KwaZulu Natal
The Cell C project was rolled out in KwaZulu Natal on Saturday, 16 October 2010. Due to the large number of schools and the distance from each other, the schools were clustered to form 8 venues. The venues were Umlazi, Chatsworth, Phoenix, Newlands, Ladysmith, Howick, Taylors Halt and Pietermaritzburg. Sixteen teacher assistants were hired to conduct these Saturday support classes. The teacher assistants used the learner support material that was compiled by the Maths Centre Training Unit.
Learners were divided into two groups at each venue. Whilst Maths tuition was being conducted with Group 1; Group 2 was engaged in Physics tuition at the same time. After 3 hours of tuition, learners had a break of an hour and then swopped classes for a further 3 hours. Learner attendance was monitored at the venues at all times.
Cell C needs to be commended for their financial contribution towards the project to ensure that learners from the selected schools produce an improved pass rate in Maths and Physical Science. Principals from the schools commended Maths Centre and Cell C for the effective support given to learners from their schools.
Mpumalanga
Beneficiaries of the program initially only included the top ten learners per school, per subject. However, later on more learners were adopted into the program. Guided by the end of year exam timetable, the stakeholders decided that three Maths sessions and five Physical Science sessions will be conducted to complete the program.
Six teachers were chosen to run the program whilst the monitoring and supply of learning material was done by Maths Centre staff through site visits.
Improvement of performance in both Maths and Physical Science was brought about by the program although its duration was minimal. The learning material supplied per school was used effectively by both teachers and learners to aid the teaching and learning process, which is one of the reasons the 2010 Matric results are likely to be better.
North West
Four schools in the North West were privileged to be selected to take part in the revision programme delivered by Maths Centre courtesy of Cell C. All the selected schools are in the Bojanala District but fall under different APOs. Of the 4 selected schools one school could not take part in the project due to the number of projects already running in the school.
The revision programme involved selection of learners, supply of revision packs to learners, appointment of tutors and delivery of the sessions in the stipulated time frame.
Given the timing of the project a lot was achieved in short space of time. Going forward most learners and Principals feel if possible that the project should continue.
The concentrated effort of Trainers, commitment and support form school principals and DoE has added value to the project.
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Northern Cape
The Cell C project can be described as an oasis in the desert. The poor performance of 2009 further substantiate the very important contribution of Cell C through Maths Centre, providing the selected Grade 12 Maths and Science learners of 2010 with an opportunity to improve performance.
The project included 2 schools that are situated around the Kimberley area.
The learners became more confident, competent and collaborative in dealing with maths and science. Learners actively participated in the revision sessions, asking questions discussing maths and science problems and utilizing the calculator optimally. Learners attended all the classes and were sometimes more than the selected group.
Trainers used collaborative group work to actively involve all learners. Learners' appreciation for the revision was also highlighted through their request that the programme should be implemented for 2011 giving the current Grade 11 learners a greater chance to excell.
Conclusion
Our sincere gratitude to Cell C for affording Maths Centre the opportunity to assist our Grade 12's in improving their results. The project was well received by the schools and welcomed by all the participating schools and communities. The learners thanked everyone involved for the huge support they received in preparation for the examinations.
The project was successfully rolled out at the all the schools. However, all stakeholders requested a continuation with the project starting earlier.
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Is this project still continuing for this year, 2011 and how does a school qualify to be part of the programme?
Regards,
Nomzamo