When Deputy Basic Education Minister Reginah Mhaule announced the delayed re-opening of schools last Friday, the JumpStart team was relieved and dismayed. We respond here with our plans for the year that now starts on 15 February: Health first It’s hard to compute precisely how much has been lost – from the skilled educators who will not return to their classrooms to the social dynamics and school lunches, plus reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. It’s easy to see how far behind some children have fallen in schools where the burden of poverty is hardest. “The stark and tragic reality of more than 1500 educators losing their lives to Covid-19 is a painful and timely reminder of the vulnerability of our colleagues employed by the DBE,” said JumpStart Programme Director, Jabu Thomo. Back to school in 2021 We support putting health above all else, and will use the next two weeks to implement specific measures to ensure […]
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JumpStart responds to South Africa’s foundation phase maths crisis
Earlier this month, the bleak news of the international TIMSS study 2019 registered with South African educators and parents. It’s hard to comprehend that a staggering 63% of Grade 5 learners lack basic maths comprehension. This means that they are unlikely to succeed in higher grade mathematics. The root cause of this problem is a lack of foundational phase numeracy: children need to grasp numbers and master basic concepts by the time they start Grade 4. It’s a question of getting the basics right in the early grades. “The negative impact on their long term education is severe, but as grim as these statistics are, there is a solution that offers hope on a grand scale,” said Callen Hodgskiss, General Manager of the JumpStart Foundation. JumpStart addressing the maths crisis since 2014 “Since 2016, the JumpStart Foundation has been addressing foundation phase numeracy in 20 schools in Katlehong, with another five schools coming aboard in […]
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Five New Schools Join JumpStart
Five primary schools in the Ekurhuleni South District will be coming on board the JumpStart mathematics education programme in January, 2021. Last week a team of Foundation Phase Subject Advisors joined Maria Malaza, Acting Deputy Chief Education Specialist, to celebrate this positive announcement which was made possible with the generous funding of Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Youth from surrounding communities to gain skills Learners from Grades 1 to 3 at Mampudi, Bopang Kgotso, Ndlelenhle, Katlehong and Simunye Primary Schools will benefit from this intervention that is already running successfully in 20 schools in the region. The programme will also create 10 new jobs for unemployed youth from the surrounding communities. These young people will join the JumpStart internship programme in January. Matriculant youth with an interest in a career in education will develop skills in mathematics education while on the learnership programme. This programme, which ensures that the foundations of mathematics learning are well […]
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Pule Morobi: tutor today, principal of the future?
When Pule Morobi arrived for a job interview back in 2018, he had set his mind on becoming a JumpStart tutor. The interviewing team noticed his neat dress and polite manner. Two years later, he’s excelling as a team leader at Kumalo Primary School, and here is his story! An introduction “Pule understands what JumpStart is all about,” said Project Coordinator, Zintle Makumsha. “He finds thoughtful ways to assist other interns when they struggle to explain an activity or to handle difficult learners. He has good class management skills, and learners listen to him.” Pule is also a facilitator for the Robotics & Coding programme. We caught up with him to find out how his ideas have expanded in the last couple of years. What are your career goals? After completing various courses in Robotics, Information and Communication Technology and Small Business Operation, I am back at the books! I’m currently a second year Bachelor […]
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JumpStart wins MTN Award for Social Change
It was a happy coincidence that during Teacher Appreciation Month JumpStart won the 2020 MTN Award for Social Change! This primary school mathematics education and youth employment programme is benefiting 22 000 foundation phase learners in the Ekurhuleni South District. The award, which attracted 143 entries across the three categories, was given in recognition for JumpStart’s excellent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practice. General Manager, Callen Hodgskiss, received the award from Angie Maloka of the MTN Foundation at the Trialogue Business in Society conference on Wednesday, 14 October. All stakeholders can make informed decisions because of good M&E Maloka congratulated Hodgskiss, saying, “The judges felt that the intervention was designed with a high level of consultation and is focused on a clear problem, for which the root cause has been clearly analysed and unpacked. M&E has been embedded throughout the model to ensure that all stakeholders are able to use the feedback to make informed decisions.” […]
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