The exciting thing about working for an organisation that is for youth and by youth is that you can experiment with technology and come up with innovative ways to make machines work for your benefit.
IkamvaYouth has been working on IkamvaYouth-in-a-box which aims to translate the experiences that many Ikamvanites have collected over the years into an information pack. This information pack seeks to turn this information into knowledge that will give Ikamvanites the power to drive the learning revolution.
This super high tech system will enable us to store information in a central database that will make all the information accessible to those who need it. Since we will be working on a model that is based on Open Source, all our templates for reporting financially, programmatically and operationally will be available to everyone who wants to use it. That translates to 1 goal for sharing and 0 for selfishness with information!
An important topic of discussion this afternoon was on tutor recruitment and retention. The different branches have had similar experiences with tutors not staying with the organisation, which has resulted in a lack of continuity with the relationship that tutors have with learners. Possible solutions to this challenged were proposed by various Ikamavanites including:
* introducing tutors to the vision of Ikamva so that they can have the holistic view that the rest of us have of the programme
* getting tutors to tell us what their expectations of Ikamva are so that we can better meet them
* Encourage strong tutor/ learner relationships so that tutors can see their relationship as being primarily with the learners, who we all seek to serve, rather than just pleasing members of the organisation. This means tutors should see themselves as being contracted to the learners rather than Ikamva. Ikamva is there to facilitate the relationship between tutors and the learners who benefit from the knowledge that these young people bring with them.
* letting tutors know that they are valued and showing appreciation by organising social activities that will also strengthen the bond between tutors and give them an avenue to get to know each other better (this includes management!)
* recommendation letters will also be written for tutors who have shown commitment to the organisation
* Each branch is to host a Strategic Planning Weekend that includes tutors and volunteers so that they can contribute ideas to the work to be done. This also ensures that tutors understand that they OWN Ikamva in the same way that the learners also own the organisation.
Phillip Mcelu, a former learner and committed volunteer from the Makhaza branch said, “[volunteering has helped me through what I have learned. Knowing that learners look up to me and knowing what I do for them helps them, makes me feel good”.
Therefore we need to retain as many tutors as possible and make sure that they also have gains for the precious time and knowledge that they give for free to committed learners with big dreams. Ikamva is currently looking at ways of incentivising these selfless young people for their contributions. Watch this space…
It would be trite to state that South Africa’s education system needs an overhaul. Although Kwazulu Natal was the only province to improve on its matric results in 2009, on a closer look, the result is still very bleak for black learners from under performing township schools. According to a study published by the South African Institute of Race Relations, of the 132 176 KZN learners who sat for the National Senior Certificate in 2009, 56% of black learners passed, while 85% of these learners were from former Model C schools. This is worrying as the vast majority of black learners in the province attend township and rural schools. This means that most black learners in the province failed their exams in a year when the province improved its matric pass rate from the previous year.
In 2008, IkamvaYouth KZN admitted 16 grade 10 learners from Mayville Secondary School in Cato Crest into its supplementary tutoring programme. By the beginning of 2010, 10 of these learners, now in grade 12, still remained with the organisation. In the years that these learners had been members of IkamvaYouth, they had become disciplined, attending Saturday School for 4 hours each week, holding extra classes after school for four days a week, two days with volunteers from IkamvaYouth and the other two days on their own. They also attended Winter and Summer School during the school holidays. The extra time and efforts put into their work became evident with their school marks improving and the learners themselves being able to see the difference that extra hours of work outside regular school hours made to their understanding and performance of their school work.
Unfortunately early in the second school term of 2010, these learners were forced to stop attending IkamvaYouth classes for compulsory Saturday School classes offered by the school. As such these learners have not been part of IkamvaYouth since then because of IkamvaYouth’s strict policy on good attendance for learners to continue with the programme. The learners have to attend the school’s Saturday School programme because their tests are set for these Saturdays.
During the early months of this year, IkamvaYouth KZN strengthened its relationship with the Durban University of Technology and as part of the agreement; IkamvaYouth was to take over DUT’s outreach project with Tholulwazi Secondary School in Lower Molweni. DUT had been coordinating a Saturday School programme with grade 12 learners from this school for a number of years. DUT’s Saturday School programme had students from the Faculty of Applied Sciences transported to the school to help the learners with their maths. DUT was attracted by IkamvaYouth’s holistic and comprehensive programme and a relationship was formalised. As Ikamva does not accept grade twelve learners if they have not attended the programme for a minimum of 2 years, an exception was made in this instance for the grade 12 learners from Tholulwazi, as well as a new group of grade 11s and 10s who will then move up within the programme.
What has become evident in the two groups of grade 12 learners is the difference in achievement levels. While learners from both schools have to deal with similar circumstances, the learners from Mayville Secondary School have far better marks than their counterparts from Tholulwazi in a comparison of their June examination results. According to the learners, this is because of the discipline, commitment and sense of initiative that they learned from their two years attending the IkamvaYouth programme.
“Even though we are not attending Ikamva anymore, we still work the same way as with Ikamva. We stay after school until late where we help each other, especially with Maths, Physics and Accounting, even though we don’t have anyone else to help us”, said Njabulo Khuzwayo, one of the grade 12 learners from Mayville Secondary School.
The learners from Tholulwazi, however, are not only struggling with comprehension of their school subjects, with the exception of IsiZulu Home Language, but are also far less confident of their prospects at the end of the year.
The biggest difference in the average marks of these learners is in Maths, where the average marks for Mayville Secondary School learners is 77%, while the Tholulwazi learners averaged 13%.
Considering that the learners from these two schools come from schools that have to deal with similar academic problems which lead to low learner pass rates, the learners that have been with IkamvaYouth for two years demonstrate that the extra tuition they received through the programme has made a difference in their academic achievements.
IkamvaYouth KZN would like to thank The Answer Series for the donation of books towards our learners. These books have been really useful especially since the public sector strike began two weeks ago. Our learners have been using the books to practice and learn while they are not being taught.
The books are also helpful for the tutors who are now able to see what the syllabus is for the year and know what to concentrate on, especially the basics for subjects like Physical Sciences, Accounting, English and Maths.
Five Ikamvanites had the opportunity to visit the Virginia Air Show courtesy of Southern African Women in Aviation (SAWA). Capt. Refilwe Ledwaba, a helicopter pilot with the SAPS, invited 5 girls with good marks in Maths and Physical Science and an interest in aviation to participate in this programme. SAWA plans to partner with IkamvaYouth KZN to expose more learners to careers in aviation. The learners that qualified for the programme were: Fortunate Chinogurayi and Kalavani Perumal who are both in grade 10 at Bonella Secondary School, Sthembile Ngidi (Grade 10 Wiggins Secondary School) and Nontobeko Mkhize and Nomfundo Khumalo grade 11 from Tholulwazi Secondary School. They were accompanied by Nombuso Mthiyane who is a Physics tutor with Ikamva.
“The Girl/Fly programme is where we identify school girls that are interested in Aviation.We expose them to different careers within the industry, assist with the application process and also source sponsorship for their training.We also assist in the applications for the SAA cadette programme, South African Air Force and a lot more aviation companies, said Ledwaba about the programme.
SAWA will speak to all Ikamvanites about opportunities in aviation as well as arrange for them to spend half a day with Air Traffic Controllers, Engineers and Pilots on the job.
In the photograph (l-r) Air Force pilot Zanele, Fortunate, Capt. Ledwaba, Sthembile, Nomfundo, Kalavani, Nombuso and Nontobeko.
Lloyd Lungu