A local non-profit organisation (NPO) is running an at-home learning project for school children in vulnerable and rural communities.
During the national lockdown, the Khula Development Group (Khula) started an at-home learning project, Go2school@home, to assist children with learning, according to Emma Dippenaar, a School2home programme support facilitator at Khula.
“Khula identified specific streets in the community that the interns [of the at-home learning project] would go into twice a week,” said Dippenaar. The interns were young members of the community, which was “empowering for the community”, according to Dippenaar.
The Stellenbosch branch of the Khula Development Group is located in Idas Valley. PHOTO: Sibulela Bolarinwa
Khula operates in Stellenbosch and Paarl, and works with the Cloetesville, Rietenbosch and Pieter Langeveldt primary schools in Cloetesville, said Dippenaar.
Khula works in conjunction with the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), which piloted an “@Homelearning programme”, according to Dippenaar. The “developmental” and “academically stimulating” programme will continue to operate and employ more interns, despite schools having reopened, she added.
Emma Dippenaar, a School2home programme support facilitator at Khula, explains the impact that the Go2school@home and @Homelearning community programmes have had on local children
“The pandemic had a huge impact on the manner [in which] learners perform at school,” said Shafiek Jacobs, principal of Pieter Langeveldt Primary School in Cloetesville.
The factors leading children to drop out of schools range from “not having school shoes or stationery, to facing terrible social situations where no one takes responsibility for the child, and children having to work at a young age”, according to Dippenaar.
“Online learning is not an option for the majority of our learners, as the communities where the learners are from have little to zero access to [the] internet,” added Jacobs.
Khula has assisted Pieter Langeveldt Primary School in ensuring continued academic progress and high attendance amongst learners since the onset of the pandemic, according to Jacobs. The programme has been beneficial in maintaining academic stimulation for students, especially on those days when they are still required to learn from home, explained Dippenaar.
The Khula organisation started due to “the alarming dropout rate” of children in vulnerable communities, according to Dippenaar.
In a press release dated 26 November 2020, the Zero Dropout campaign stated that four out of ten South African learners will drop out of school before reaching matric.
“School closures, together with the economic impact of the lockdown, have placed learners already at risk of dropout into deeper financial, psychosocial and academic stress,” stated Merle Mansfield, a Zero Dropout campaign programme director, in a press release.