The local organisation runs an afterschool programme that offers tutoring for learners, at Ditawana Primary and Bopanang Primary School, with a focus on numeracy, literacy and digital literacy.
The donation is a result of a partnership between Segen Solar and The Learning Trust to fund afterschool programmes in disadvantaged areas.
“With the rise of digital learning as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, Segen Solar approached us wanting to donate digital infrastructure to three organisations working in schools that don’t usually have access to such,” said Ongeziwe Nxokwana, Programme officer at The Learning Trust.
“Matlhogonolo started a digital literacy programme last year with limited resources and mostly a passion to equip learners with digital skills. Against this background, they were chosen in the network as a beneficiary of the Segen Solar donation.”
Nxokwana said the intention of the donation was to give more learners access to digital skills and grow the literacy programme while empowering learners through the use of technology.
Founder of Matlhogonolo Community Outreach Centre, Prince Phetoe said the donation would allow his programme to continue its work of introducing digital skills to learners in township schools.
“The idea arose after we saw that many kids prefer using gadgets instead of physical books. So we came up with the idea of digitizing our content – and have all the education material on the tablets for us to do tutoring using technology,” Phetoe said.
Phetoe added that through the donation, the organisation was able to purchase three laptops, a printer and 29 tablets for Ditawana Primary school.
“A lot of schools do not have the infrastructure or gadgets. The donation will make it easy for us to push our programmes and allow for more learners to have an opportunity to use devices for learning because there’s educational content and games installed on the devices.”