Revolutionary app to help under-resourced schools
SANDTON – iSchoolAfrica is set to implement the award winning software app Onebillion to under-resourced schools all over the country.
An education initiative that reaches schools across South Africa in rural and township settings, iSchoolAfrica, based in Sandton, Johannesburg, is the official implementation partner of the app Onebillion in South Africa.
Onebillion’s international team of experts have built educational software for children in and out of school, and together with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) and partner organisations around the globe, the organisation works to bring this software directly into the hands of the child.
XPrize, the global leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, announced the $15 million (about R217 million) competition winners at the annual Global Learning XPrize awards this year in Los Angeles. The $15 million Global Learning XPrize challenged teams from around the world to develop open-source, accessible software that will enable children in developing countries to teach themselves basic reading, writing, and arithmetic within 15 months. The Global Learning XPrize seeks to provide universal access to quality learning through open and accessible data, localisable software, durable and available hardware and successful delivery to any context.
The iSchoolAfrica programme brings this award-winning global learning software, Onebillion, to under-resourced rural and township schools across the country. In fact, not only has the Onebillion numeracy software helped children in the iSchoolAfrica programme cement basic numeracy concepts, but most of all, these learners have started to love maths, while their English vocabulary has also increased, and school absenteeism has decreased.
Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPrize said, “Learning how to read, write and demonstrate basic maths are essential building blocks for those who want to live free from poverty and its limitations, and we believe that this competition clearly demonstrated the accelerated learning made possible through the educational applications developed by our teams, and ultimately hope that this movement spurs a revolution in education, worldwide.”
Michelle Lissoos, director at iSchoolAfrica added that with this easy-to-use software, learners proceeded at their own pace and get immediate feedback. Lissoos said the software had helped more than 13 000 foundation phase learners in 45 of the iSchoolAfrica schools to cement their basic numeracy concepts. The impact is measurable, and each child’s progress is tracked.
Grade 2 teacher at Westerlig Primary School and in the iSchoolAfrica programme, Chante Pieterse concluded,
“Using the Onebillion app has assisted my weaker learners with their numeracy ability. Before they were shy and hesitant in the classroom, but now they have confidence and want to share what they have learned. The one-to-one learning helps them to learn at their own pace and they don’t feel anxious about their own progress anymore.”
Details: iSchoolAfrica www.ischoolafrica.com
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