At JumpStart we think every day should be World Teachers’ Day! Our chief goal is to support under-resourced educators in classrooms where teacher-pupil ratios are very high. We train unemployed youth living close to the schools on our programme, developing their skills as maths tutors. They then assist in early grade maths learning by offering one-on-one attention to struggling children. Many young people discover a deep sense of purpose in the classroom and are eager to get onto career paths towards becoming teachers in their own right. World Teachers’ Day is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education. This is a chance to reflect on the support teachers — and future teachers — need to fully deploy their talent and vocation. We celebrate having secured R40 000 of financial aid that will help six tutors become educators. Youth reaching out to youth An exciting CSI initiative was started in April this year by […]
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World Teachers’ Day – the mother of all careers!
At the 21st National Teaching Awards in Ekurhuleni today, President Ramaphosa praised outstanding educators who have remained committed to their noble craft and produced extraordinary outcomes under challenging circumstances. At JumpStart, we are blessed with remarkable partners who support, encourage and facilitate progress for our youth tutors. Many fabulous teachers – like Barbara Bogogolela, Nondomisa Macala, Funeka Phakada and Adelina Msimango – go out of their way to advise, mentor and champion young people aiming to become qualified educators in their own right. These teachers are supported by a team of colleagues at the Department of Basic Education, Ekurhuleni South District, who lead and guide mathematics learning in the foundation phase on a daily basis. On World Teachers’ Day Maria Kgotlele Malaza, a committed partner of JumpStart, shared her thoughts on “the mother of all careers”. Ms Malaza is the SES for Mathematics in the Foundation Phase and her support has been integral to the […]
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Malefu Rampai – educator waiting in the wings
Little did Malefu Rampai know just six years ago that she would fall in love with mathematics when she started as a JumpStart tutor. Her experience teaching NumberSense to children in Sasolburg was instrumental in persuading her to major in mathematics. After a long slog and at the age of 30, Malefu Rampai recently completed her B Ed through UNISA. She can hardly wait to become a full-time fully qualified educator! Despite having completed all her coursework and having her fees are all paid up, thanks to a StudyAssist bursary from JumpStart and Sasol, she can’t get a job until she receives her graduation certificate. She is one of the many UNISA students justifiably “upset” as heard on Radio 702 recently. Malefu shared her JumpStart journey with us. When and how did you join JumpStart? I joined the JumpStart foundation in 2014 when the programme was first introduced in Sasolburg and it soon grew into […]
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Celebrating global partners on World Education Day
On World Education Day South African children should be polishing their school shoes and sharpening their pencils… Instead they await a delayed return to school. Today we give thanks to those who have gone the extra mile during the pandemic to minimise the effects of disrupted education. We join hands with the 1.6 billion students around the globe who are weathering the unprecedented disruption of learning due to COVID-19. Those who have helped are the lifeblood of progress! Going the extra mile Many parents and educators have extended themselves beyond what they thought was possible. Without their input, children and youth could have fared significantly worse. We are especially grateful to those who have extended financial, emotional and logistical support. To this end, our key funder, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) has been a game changer for the JumpStart Foundation. Since 2018, MSDF has supported our NumberSense programme in the Ekurhuleni South District, […]
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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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