With lockdown impacting the lives of everyone, Edenglen High School has put several measures in place to help learners.
The measures put in place by the school include a data fund, free Wi-Fi and a lunch programme.
Data fund
Known as the Edenglen Data Fund, the initiative was started after it was brought to the attention of Mr Chalklen that many learners did not have access to Wi-Fi at home.
To help address this, public relations officer of the school Georgette Brook said the school opened an account with Freepaid Pty Ltd.
“This will allow the school to convert whatever donations made to the data fund directly into data at no extra cost whatsoever.”
Edenglen High hopes the fund will assist those who find themselves in a difficult situation financially.
“Learners will receive one gigabyte a month. They only need to provide their cellphone number and the network they use.”
Free Wi-Fi
To further assist learners with access to online education, Edenglen High’s governing body recently approved the installation of an outside Wi-Fi dish.
Installed on the corner of the gym closest to Steyn Avenue, the Wi-Fi has a speed of is 100MB per second and covers the area around the school’s name and logo.
Georgette said the initiative hopes to provide parents and learners with uncapped Wi-Fi; however, access is restricted to prevent learners from accessing social media and non-educational websites.
“This will assist learners, parents and teachers to push resources and information to learners previously excluded due to not having access to the internet,” said Georgette.
“The signal is strong enough to service the entire waiting area, and will assist future learners of the school.”
Georgette said besides the governing body, Dr Wilsenach (of the schools IT department) and principal Trevor Weinerlein assisted in providing learners with access to the Wi-Fi.
Feeding programme
Despite the lockdown, Edenglen High has remained committed to providing care packages to learners.
On a normal day, Edenglen High supplies lunch to approximately 60 learners.
Georgette explained that with the lockdown in place, many learners would not receive care packages for their families.
To prevent this, Edenglen High life orientation teacher Ms Krok started What’s for Lunch Johannesburg?
To spread the word about the initiative, an Instagram account was created.
“In a few hours, enough money was raised to feed some of the families who receive lunch from the school,” said Georgette.
“With the help of Mrs Naidoo (deputy principal) and Ms Absolom, food parcels were delivered to our learners’ families.
Details for the Wi-Fi fund are:
FNB Tygerberg
Branch code: 201410
Beneficiary: FREEPAID PTY LTD
Account number: 62057217400
Reference: 0826824736
Details for the school’s feeding programme are:
FNB
Miss Krok
Cheque account
Account number: 62626332267
Branch code: 250655
