Our YES4YOUTH tutors impact many young lives inside and outside the classroom. This month we share five unique stories about individuals who care where it was most needed, be that fundraising for school uniforms, , purchasing pencils or digging deep to reach a child in distress. We’re proud of our tutors who go the extra mile to facilitate the best learning environments for their learners. Partnerships with South African corporates enable unemployed youth to gain valuable experience and improve mathematics outcomes in under-resourced classroom. Read about similar stories in our February edition and March round up. Individual attention makes a big difference Msawenkosi Vakele (25) is a tutor at Kasa Junior Secondary School, Elliotdale, Eastern Cape. Bay Engineering partnered with us to sponsor his post. At one point I noticed one of my top learners’ marks were dropping and they weren’t as attentive in class as normal. I felt it was my duty to understand […]
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Jabu Thomo – in maths the left hand must meet the right
Jabu Thomo, our Educational Programme Director, is in the spotlight this month. We want to share our fun and fearless staff members who care about mathematics education and youth employment more than anything else! Jabu leads our fabulous team who are dedicated to turning underperforming classrooms into centres of maths and science excellence. Maths marriages Jabu is a teacher by profession, who taught secondary school maths for more than 10 years within the Department of Basic Education (DBE). While working there, Jabu occupied various roles as a teacher, Head of Department, and subject advisor for maths in the Ekurhuleni North district office. After that, he worked with various NGOs throughout the country as an education projects manager. This path led to where he is now, the educational programmes director at JumpStart. Jabu and his wife are both maths teachers. After meeting at university, they taught at the same school. They have now been married for […]
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YES4YOUTH – Tutors tell it like it is – March 2022
We are terrifically proud of our tutors, and are thrilled to partner with YES4YOUTH. These partnerships make all the difference, enabling unemployed youth to gain the experience that will help them access employment, return to studies, or commence them, and help to change mathematics outcomes on the ground for the youngest learners struggling to gain a sense of number. Last month we featured a couple of unique voices in our February round up. This month, we’re excited to share new faces and their musings on the programme. Practising mathematics at home Busisiwe Mfazwe (21) is sponsored by Youth@Work. She is a tutor at No-Holland Junior Secondary School in Idutywa, Eastern Cape. In the beginning I was very scared to teach children as it was my first time, but I told myself that I would get to know them as time went on. I’ve gained valuable experience in teaching children and I’ve enjoyed working with their […]
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Kicking off 2022 with a splash at Emerald Resort!
In February we kicked off the year with a splash, quite literally by jumping into the aquadome at the Emerald Resort! “It’s not every year we throw a party in the first week of term,” said Programme Director, Jabu Thomo, “but with the Omicron wave last December the health of our tutors and staff took priority. On 4 February we gathered to celebrate the successes of 2021 and welcome our new cohort of education assistants. We spent part of the day explaining the roles and responsibilities that lay ahead, sharing skills related to the classrooms, and then followed the feasting and festivities. The combination of onboarding and retrospective celebration offered an incentive to all our tutors from Sasolburg, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg to make 2022 our best year yet.” A few of our tutors shared what they most enjoyed about the day, their learning, and their hopes for the year. Lindelani learns job skills Lindelani Mushiana […]
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YES4YOUTH – Tutors tell it like it is – February 2022
The JumpStart Foundation provides — literally and metaphorically — a jumpstart for unemployed matriculants who have the drive and ambition to make careers for themselves, but who got stuck along the way. The combination of skills training, the chance to return to or initiate tertiary studies and the provision of a stipend that feeds families is a significant factor in helping young people get out of poverty and frustration. It is also part of how we are responding to the country’s mathematics education crisis in foundation phase. With YES4Youth we are participating in a national drive to create work opportunities for black South African youth at scale by connecting them with suitable companies and programmes. The year spent working as educational assistants tutoring maths in under-resourced classrooms is combined with programme support that increases youth employability. A key goal is to facilitate the transition to meaningful work with viable future earnings. Companies like Lightstone, KSB […]
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