Life under lockdown #6: Zininzi keeps counting
Zininzi Skenjana has the counting skills to count the days of lockdown. She really misses school. Every time a grey EcoSport passes in the street, the little girl points it out, saying, “There goes my teacher…” Like millions of children in South African schools, she has been away from her Grade 1 class at Tamaho Primary for almost five months. Zininzi is one of the lucky ones, whose building blocks are still being put in place. For young minds at this critical stage of their education, a predictable adult presence with good routines dramatically alters the course of learning.
A teacher tells it like it is…
“The children who started in Grade 1 this year were only just learning how to count,” says Ms Gcobisa Mtabane. The work the children do is laid out in the Department of Basic Education‘s syllabus, also known as the CAPS document. “They knew the names of the numbers from one to five…” She worries that many children have forgotten everything they learned in those first few months of 2020. She reports to Mrs Macala, her Head of Department., and both these teachers are deeply frustrated. “Schools closed, then opened for the higher grades only, and now they are closed again until 24 August!” Ms Mtabane is optimistic that those learners who were able to participate in the NumberSense digital pilot programme benefited enormously. The pilot programme was rolled out at the end of May and combined the technical innovation combined with parents and guardians, guided by youth tutors, who set up WhatsApp groups to coach the parents through the basics of maths learning.
Accessible maths learning for all
Granny Zuziwe is a Grade R educator herself. She focuses on creating an orderly space for learning in the Skenjana home. She sits with Zininzi and they write number lines together. Then they group bottle tops and buttons together, counting aloud in twos, threes, and fives. Granny encourages Zininzi to pat her fingers on her chest to figure out the answers. Zininzi is one of the top performers on the programme, but her success is not unique. A significant number of other learners are making similar excellent progress in homes without a resident teacher in the house!
The digital app was developed by software engineer, Graham Bingham, and his team. More than 230 learners have used the programme with excellent results to. He said, “Covid-19 has led to the loss of at least 50% of children’s contact time in class. An urgent solution was possible to deal with the drastically shortened terms.”
Ameliorating an incipient crisis
General manager, Callen Hodgskiss, said, “Class occupancy rates are between 45 – 70 learners. In these circumstances, social distancing is well nigh impossible. Many teachers are in the high risk categories, suffering from diabetes and hypertension. JumpStart has come up with a support plan to address the incipient crisis.
Tutor support makes a difference
Granny Zuziwe had this to say about the NumberSense app: “JumpStart is a very good programme for learners because it’s reinforcing counting skills all the time. Even if they don’t understand the concept during school hours, when they do their NumberSense on their own at home, they progress a lot.”
Grandmother and grand-daughter benefit tremendously from the tutors’ support and responsiveness. “The Tamaho facilitator installed a missing workbook for me on my phone. Now Zininzi is racing ahead,” said Granny Zuziwe.
Counting, counting, counting the days
Zininzi is a serious six-year-old is in Grade 1 at Tamaho Primary. When asked to try some sums in a WhatsApp interview, she adds and subtracts a series of numbers aloud: 2+3=? 5+2=? 7+3=? 10-3=? 7-2=? 5-3=? The little girl focuses intensely, giving the correct answer every time. Her grandmother, Zuziwe, is immensely proud. And so she should be, having taken it on herself to supervise the six-year-old’s maths education in their Katlehong home.
Kumnandi!
The NumberSense workbook claims Zininzi’s attention and her counting skills are now beyond her age group. English is not her first language and she fights to overcome her shyness. She volunteers, softly, that JumpStart is, “Kumnandi!” It’s nice.