KHULA Education - Perspectives from deep Rural South Africa
| "Today we won - a small but important victory. We delivered the first round of KHULA Education Home Study Packs to 1,684 pupils in the uMzinyathi District, ahead of the Covid-19 national lockdown" - Debbie Heustice, Director KHULA Education - March 25th 2020. In the last two weeks, the team at KHULA Education created an “out of the box” plan for KHULA’s 152 preschoolers and 1,684 school children. Undeterred by the threat of a lockdown, KHULA, local school principals and community champions (pupils who volunteered to help) rapidly designed a network of safe drop off points for home study packs. Once the children complete this work, the packs will be returned to the drop off points. These will be collected, marked and returned to pupils together with a second study pack. The KHULA result: while much of South Africa comes to a standstill, KHULA is keeping the teaching wheels turning. |
Physical delivery is essential as sadly internet learning is not easy to achieve in the uMzinyathi District. The children live in a deep rural area either with no internet access or, if there is access, it is consistently poor and unreliable. In addition, most rural householdslack the income necessary to purchase data. To improve this situation, within the month, we will install our own wi-fi tower at Isandlwana.
The KHULA result: KHULA’s Isandlwana wifi tower will bring better, free internet to pupils in households in the area.
These local initiatives and response innovations are hallmarks of KHULA. We invite you to be part of this positive response to the pandemic and to help us sustain our teaching efforts during and beyond the lockdown. We appreciate that everyone is challenged in the current environment, so please give whatever you can. Every donation makes a difference, specifically:
£200 pays the salary of one teacher’s aide for a month
£150 buys a month of data to connect all of our KHULA learners to the internet
£100 purchases a tablet computer, opening the doors of learning to rural families
Help us to support the children of our rural communities – click here to donate
At KHULA we believe that all children deserve a quality education and we have worked very hard over the past 15 years to deliver exceptional education to rural children from preschool through to their graduation from secondary school. While the present crisis will pass, the challenges facing rural children in South Africa are ongoing.
Achievement Highlights
Preschools: This year our pre-schools have reached full capacity. We support 152children, aged 3 to 5 years old, and employ 14 local pre-school educators.
Grades R - 3: Our Foundation Phase Programme initiated at two schools in 2019 nowsupports 373 children aged 5 to 10 years old to develop Maths and English Languageskills.
Grades 7 - 12: This year our Maths and English programme expanded to 5 schools andprovides direct teaching support to 775 pupils. Our goal is to improve by 20% theirmarks and pass rates
Preparing Youth for Life after School: Over the past year, KHULA has supported lifeskills & job readiness workshops for 800 rural youth providing vital guidance onaligning subject choices to future career aspirations; making applications for tertiarystudy and bridging the divide between school and future study opportunities.
Educator Development: Through KHULA’s Educator Development Programme we trainteachers working in rural schools. Our teaching team works alongside 100 governmentteachers both in and outside the classroom to improve teaching skills and expandknowledge.
Celebrating local success:
Aphiwe Zondo was the top pupil in the entire uMzinyathi District in 2019. He graduated fromNtalantala Secondary, one of KHULA’s supported schools. We got to know Aphiwe betterwhen he attended our youth Life Skills camp. Recognising his exceptional academic ability,KHULA helped Aphiwe to secure a scholarship to study Medicine at the University ofKwaZulu-Natal.
From Robin Woodhead, Chairman, The David Rattray MemorialTrust, supporting KHULA Education
"During the last 15 years, KHULA Education has achieved amazing results in supporting theeducation of an increasing number of children in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The reason for oursuccess is twofold: our dedicated team on the ground and your ongoing support. Yourcontinued assistance will make a lasting difference in helping our rural children find a brightfuture - now more than ever!"
Best regards,
Robin Woodhead Chairman,
The David Rattray Memorial Trust, supporting KHULA Education
UK Registered Charity Number: 1119353
