The Sasol Foundation has partnered with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Africa Teen Geeks, to support the provision of free online classes during South Africa’s national lockdown in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Africa Teen Geeks is an education-focused non-profit organisation and the Lockdown Digital Classroom initiative is its brainchild.
Since the launch of the initiative, more than 45 000 Grade R to 12 learners have accessed these online lessons, with the majority reporting the courses to be engaging and stimulating. The lessons focus on mathematics, mathematics literacy, natural sciences, physical sciences, numeracy, computer application technology (Cat), information technology (IT), and literacy.
Head of the Sasol Foundation, Vusi Cwane said the organisation’s involvement in the project stems from its commitment to supporting and enabling access to quality education at all levels and the promotion of excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem).
“Our focus is to ensure that learners receive the support they need while at home to continue their education, albeit remotely. The Lockdown Digital Classroom initiative enables this and provides learners with a virtual classroom experience that is stimulating and engaging as there’s a higher level of interaction during the lessons, making the experience worthwhile.”
There are two components to the project: the Stem Lockdown Digital School and the Lockdown Digital Reading Club.
The Sasol Foundation is involved in the Stem Lockdown Digital School element of the project, through the provision of financial and non-financial resources. The foundation is working with the project partners to ensure that lessons are delivered only by professional teachers registered with the South African Council for Educators (SACE), and the project will continue to be monitored.
The foundation also supports the spirit of the Lockdown Digital Reading Club whose purpose is to encourage a culture of reading during this lockdown. This programme uses well-known media personalities as ambassadors to champion this cause. They have volunteered their time for free to read books for learners in grades R to 3 and do not do any teaching.
Lindiwe Matlali, CEO of African Teen Geeks, said, “We have a reading club wherein we work with public figures and celebrities who have volunteered their time to read to children. It is imperative to note that this is reading and not teaching to promote awareness of the campaign.”
The virtual classes are an hour long and take place from 8am to 5pm every weekday. They are accessible at no cost to the learners. They are also recorded and uploaded on the following websites, enabling learners and teachers to watch them again should they need to.
- Sasol in Society: https://society.sasol.com/
- Department of Basic Education: https://www.education.gov.za/
- Africa Teen Geeks: https://www.africateengeeks.co.za/
In addition to being part of the Lockdown Digital Classroom initiative, the Sasol Foundation is also making its catalogue of mathematics, science and technology textbooks available for free online.
The organisation has been working with the Department of Basic Education over the last seven years to develop these textbooks many of which have been digitised and are available for free to be downloaded or read online on the Siyavula, MST Workbooks and Thunderbolt Kids websites.
The Siyavula website has been zero-rated on MTN, Vodacom and Telkom, meaning that learners and parents on these networks will not incur any data costs when reading or downloading the resources online.
The following are textbooks that can be read on the Siyavula platform:
- Grade 7 to 12 mathematics
- Grade 10 mathematical literacy
- Grade 4 to 12 natural and physical sciences
- Grade 10 life sciences
- Grade 10 to 12 information technology (IT)
- Grade 10 to 12 computer application technology (CAT).
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