LIMPOPO – A revolutionary remote learning development program, run by skills development company, Social Coding, and supported by business process outsourcing (BPO) provider, Merchants, successfully supported 67 matric learners in Mashite, rural Limpopo, through July’s two-week lockdown.
The best Maths and Science teachers in Mashite – which is situated 2,5 hours away from the nearest town – were filmed taking students through a syllabus based on the latest Maths and Science textbooks. The recorded learning modules were loaded on to tablets, which were distributed to each of the matric learners studying Maths and Science.
“When president Cyril Ramaphosa announced that we were moving into a two-week lockdown and schools would be closed with immediate effect, I knew something drastic needed to be done to assist the matric learners at Segopotje Secondary School – specifically those studying Maths and Physical Science. For this kind of school in a rural area, there is no pivot to online learning – digital exclusion is hauntingly real for these learners. Last year, 14 matric learners failed the year, due to lack of access to teachers and study material,” explains Thembiso Magajana, founder of Social Coding, who run a pioneer program at the school that is aimed at building digital skills.
“Together with the Merchants team, we came up with the revolutionary idea to develop the Remote Learning Development Program – which bridges the gap between the learners and the facilitators, and completely eliminates the barrier to entry around access to technology.”
Further to this, former alumni from the school were contacted and agreed to spend two hours a day tutoring students via private WhatsApp groups – where one tutor was assigned to every ten students.
“The reaction from the students was overwhelming,” explains Magajana. “We even had requests to extend the hours for the tutoring sessions from two hours to four hours a day.” To assess the effectiveness of the program, the teachers were asked to develop weekly assessments for the students and the results speak for themselves:
- The program had a 100% attendance rate across the Maths and Science learners.
- 78% of the Maths students scored above 50% for their assignments.
- 51% of students achieved distinctions across all the assignments.
- 71% of students achieved 60% and above for all the assignments.
Magajana notes that based on the success of the program, this is something the partnership between Social Coding and Merchants are looking to expand.
“Working to develop untapped talent in the country has to go beyond access to the internet. Many businesses and brands focus on providing access to the internet to more rural areas in South Africa, and while this certainly has a role to play in the fight against digital exclusion – it is not always the right solution to every problem. These students have to travel more than two hours to access a computer – the bigger issue here is adoption of technology. Our collaboration with Merchants allowed us to develop and run with a life-changing idea for South Africa’s youth in record timing. This would not have been possible without their support, and most importantly, their guidance and experience – and this is what corporate philanthropy should be about,” she says.
“This unconventional collaboration between Merchants and Social Coding continues to surprise us, as we break barriers to entry for the youth, change the face of technology at a grassroots level and assist in building critical digital skills for the future talent pipeline in our country,” concludes Mathew Conn, Group Chief Revenue Officer at Merchants.
