Empowering South African Youth Through Education

Ours are not your ordinary math classes!  These are some of the eager Grade 10 math learners doing something we love to do at SPARK/The Umkhumbane Schools Project --  play active, mind-engaging math games outdoors!   We have 170 hard-working students attending Grade 10 Saturday math, as we continue to provide education and mentoring that will lift the Cato Manor township learners towards success in school and a bighter future beyond.   We bring learners together from across all five of our schools to work with teachers and volunteer math mentors from our local University in an atmosphere that is fun, challenging, and affirming.  It would be difficult to overstate our schools' need for this kind of support.  Last year's pass rate in mathematics for Grade 10 learners in our schools who did not attend the SPARK/Umkhumbane programme was only 2% (with a score of 30% considered a "Pass"), while learners in our programme managed to attain a 25% pass rate.  While we are pleased to see that we are making a difference, we continue to set our sights higher, and are aiming to lift each and every one of our 170 Grade 10 learners to success in math this year.  

Where will this take these young people, and why does it matter?  Simply put, success in school, and in math in particular, will change these young people's lives.  The alternative of continued failure in math among township learners in South African communities like Umkhumbane/Cato Manor keeps the door to higher education shut for them.  Not only will their dreams of future work in health care, engineering, accounting, teaching, or IT remain an impossibility, but the persistent inequality and deep poverty that shape South Africa today, even 22 years after the end of apartheid, will remain unchanged.  

We are helping open these doors not only through our maths programme, but also with our Tertiary Access program, through which our older learners  -- Grades 11 and 12  --  are given guidance in gaining access to university programmes after high school.  Below is a photo of three of our successful 2016 applicants who are now pursuing Bachelor's Degrees in their first semester at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).  

On the mentoring front, we have so much news to share!  In the last two months we have launched a new academic and life-skills mentoring class in partnership with the Hawu! Science Mentoring initiative at UKZN.  Through this pilot project, a group of 30 of our Grade 11 learners will meet with a group of mentors twice a month as a supplement to their Saturday math classes, to learn about higher education options, gain career guidance, and develop friendships with university students and young professionals who are wonderful role models to our learners.   Our kick-off mentoring session was just two weeks ago, and we are excited to see this important initiative continue.  

Finally, among the many activities that could be highlighted in this report, our new Interschool Chess League deserves special mention.  This is an aspect of our mentoring efforts that reaches learners who may not be enrolled in math or science, but who are eager for an opportunity to hone valuable life-skills and develop self-confidence through regular, friendly competition with other schools.   Though an essential feature of learning in well-resourced schools, this kind of opportunity is virtually absent in township and rural schools. The photo below is from our first match, between Wiggins and Chesterville Secondary Schools.  Though Chesterville pulled ahead early in the afternoon, Wiggins came through with a narrow victory by the end of the day!  The League will be having matches each week, and will culminate in an end-of-year tournament in September.

We are so excited to see the progress our learners are making this year, all thanks to the generosity of our donors.  Many heartfelt thanks for your support of our GlobalGiving campaign!