The Ivory Park branch staff and matriculants celebrating a 100% pass rate
285 learners enrolled in IkamvaYouth’s after-school tutoring programmes in ten branches across five provinces have achieved an 85% pass rate; 69% of which are either Bachelor or Diploma passes, ensuring their eligibility for tertiary studies.
In South Africa, a major predictor of academic performance is the location of one’s school. When comparing results between leafy suburbs and tin-roofed townships, it appears that we have two different education systems operating in parallel. For most learners in township and rural schools, even reaching matric is a feat; only 58% of the grade 2s from 2006 made it to write matric last year, and so, as Nic Spaull explains, the actual pass mark for the matric cohort of 2016 is an abysmal 42%.
Unfortunately, the quality of one’s matric pass has a major bearing on the kinds of post-school opportunities one can access, and thus heavily influences an individual’s potential earning capacity.This is good news for the Ikamvanites who have managed to defy their context, and have leveraged the power of peer-to-peer learning and support to achieve great academic results. They’ve made an important step up the path towards earning a dignified living, and the organisation looks forward to reporting on the Class of 2016’s placements in a few months’ time.
“IkamvaYouth is especially proud of the Ivory Park branch, which achieved a 100% pass rate, and the branches in KZN (Chesterville and Umlazi), which hauled in an accumulative 41 subject distinctions”, says Programmes Manager Patrick Mashanda.‘’It is because of such results that IkamvaYouth continues to assist township youths, against all odds! We remain determined to see many more township youths breaking the cycle of poverty through education. The challenges the learners face are many, but the desire for a dignified living continues to inspire Ikamvanites to take the future into their own hands through hard work, and peer to peer learning. Well done to the class of 2016!’’
Vuyolwethu Zumani is a member of the Joza branch in the Eastern Cape. He achieved a Bachelor pass with 5 distinctions (in Maths, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Geography and Life Orientation). IkamvaYouth is proud to report that he is one of the top achieving learners in the district! Vuyolwethu cleared hurdles including a shortage of teachers at his school and financial instability at home, and has been accepted to study towards a BSc, majoring in Maths and Statistics at the university currently known as Rhodes this year.
Vuyolethu Zumani was awarded for being the top learner in the district.
The Ikamvanites are tutored and mentored by volunteers, who come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. Most of the tutors are university students, and many are ex-learners from the programme, who pay-forward the help they received by supporting younger learners. Many of the volunteer mentors are professionals who assist grade 12 learners to figure out their post-school options, and assist with their applications. We look forward to welcoming members of the class of 2016 as volunteers.
Tanyaradzwa Chiyambiro, the Chesterville branch’s top achiever, says “I am currently feeling relief and am very happy since I received my results; hopefully Wits University will approve my application to study Biomedical Engineering which is what I really really want to do. IkamvaYouth has been amazing; a combination of learning and fun. Being a part of this organisation has been awesome and I’ve learnt the importance of helping others and giving back.”
We are particularly proud of those learners who will be studying to become teachers. Thabisile Mfeka, a top achiever from the Umlazi branch, achieved a Bachelor pass and plans to pass on her love of education and learning by studying a B(Ed) and teaching Maths, Science and English to learners in grades seven to nine.
Thabisile Mfeka speaks about her IkamvaYouth experience and her plans for the future
These great achievements are the result of years of hard work and strong collaborative partnerships. IkamvaYouth enrolls learners in grades 8 to 11, and works closely with the feeder schools, many other NGOs and CBOs, tertiary institutions, municipalities, Government departments, corporates and foundations.
“We are so proud of our learners and tutors, as well as the team behind them, and thank our donors for their ongoing support that enables results like these, year after year,” says Leigh Meinert, chairperson at IkamvaYouth. The organisation’s work is made possible thanks to generous support from many donors; most of which provide multi-year funding. Supporters of the Class of 2016 include Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA), the Omidyar Network,The ELMA Foundation, the Montpelier Foundation, Capitec Foundation, Cargill International,EMpower and The Learning Trust amongst many others.
About
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organisation, enabling disadvantaged youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty through education. The organisation provides free after-school tutoring, career guidance, mentoring, computer literacy training and extra-curricular engagement to learners in grades 8-12. The organisation is currently operating in 16 townships in 5 provinces across South Africa. To find out more, go to www.ikamvayouth.org or call Hetile on 062 105 1707
The North-West Province saw a notable increase in its matric results this year. Matriculants in the Province managed to achieve an 86.2% pass rate, which represents a 9% from 2015. The IkamvaYouth branch in Ikageng (situated at the Thembalidanisi Primary school) saw the latest cohort of Matriculants achieving an 80% pass rate, with 70% attaining Bachelor passes or Diploma passes, ensuring their eligibility for tertiary education. This is the third cohort of Matriculants that has gone through the Ikageng branch, making a big step towards earning a dignified living.
Access to learners is one of the challenges that come with running an after-school programme. Learners often find themselves caught between attending tutoring at IkamvaYouth or attending sessions at their schools which can sometimes be mandatory. To overcome this hurdle, on the 23rd of February 2016, IkamvaYouth and the
North-West Department of Education and Sport Development signed a Memorandum of Agreement which stipulates that “The Department and the NPO have a common objective to ensure learners pass and access post-school opportunities in relation to access to tertiary education and/ or formal employment.” Working together, we are able to “enhance and maximise the use of scarce resources”. This collaboration has definitely had an impact on the outcome of our Matriculants in 2016 and we hope this is a relationship that will last long into the future.
Isac Sithole is a learner from the Ikageng branch’s class of 2016, and obtained a Bachelor pass. He said that “IkamvaYouth has helped me realise that there’s a chance for me to make it in life no matter what. All I have to do is work hard and stay determined… I have learned that this life is for me to live independent of my circumstances. IkamvaYouth really helped me because it’s where I could get extra time to cover my school work because I was always behind and it also provided internet access which really helped in many ways. I am really thankful for that”.
IkamvaYouth’s tutoring programme is available to learners from grades 9 -12, three times a week and for two weeks during the winter holidays. The tutoring programme is made possible thanks to the hearts and smarts of the amazing volunteer tutors; most of whom are university students and many of whom are ex-learners from the programme. The organisation operates in the North-West thanks to collaborative partnerships with its feeder schools, and supporters including
Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, in addition to tertiary institutions in the region, and schools which provide branch venues free of charge.
About
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organisation, enabling disadvantaged youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty through education. The organisation provides free after-school tutoring, career guidance, mentoring, computer literacy training and extra-curricular engagement to learners in grades 8-12. The organisation is currently operating in 16 townships in five provinces across South Africa. To find out more, go to www.ikamvayouth.org or call Hetile on 062 105 1707.
The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, through two of its specialised units, continues to invest in Africa’s future leaders, and is calling for scholarship applications from across the continent for its 2017 academic year..
The UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) is inviting motivated leaders from across Africa, with a track record of action who would like an injection of skills to help them go further to apply for one of several scholarships available at the school in 2017. In recent years the GSB, through the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the MTN Solution Space, has made significant investments in the development of Africa’s future leaders through access to scholarships.
To date over R6 million has been committed in scholarship funding for GSB Masters and PhD programmes. This has been made possible through the generous support of funders, including GSB Alumni, the Bertha Foundation, the Canon Collins Trust and the MTN Group. “We’re delighted to be able to continue this funding into 2017 and are inviting prospective African students who would like to study either towards their MBA or Master of Philosophy in Inclusive Innovation at the UCT GSB to apply for a scholarship,” says Dr Francois Bonnici, Director of theBertha Centre.“Through the scholarships the Bertha Centre hopes to support those who want to address our continent’s greatest challenges. We want to encourage especially those seeking social change to apply and those interested in understanding and/or challenging the current ideas of business and what it does and is used for,” says Bonnici.
The Bertha Centre, a specialised unit at the GSB established in 2011 in partnership with the Bertha Foundation, seeks to support: changemakers; social activists, entrepreneurs and innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers. Previous Bertha Centre Scholars include co-founder of Lumanki, Francois Petousis; Pimp-my-Book founder Mpodumo Doubada as well as Business Day columnist, and Livity Africa Deputy Managing Director Zamandlovu Ndlovu. “Through the generous support of our donors and sponsors we are able to cover tuition fees for our Masters programmes and provide additional financial support for living and travel costs where needed,” says Sarah-Anne Arnold, Manager of the MTN Solution Space.The MTN Solution Space, established at the GSB in 2014 in partnership with the MTN Group, seeks to support problem solvers – doers, makers, thinkers and creators – who continually seek to advance and leverage technologies for the well-being of Africans. Previous MTN Scholars include Rudzani Mulaudzi co-founder of Gradesmatch and Lianne du Toit Vice Chairperson of Silicon Cape and founder of GovHackSA. “While scholars are distinct in their professional goals and ambitions and hail from all over Africa, they are united in their common goal: to have a significant impact in the world,” says Arnold.
Geoff Bick, Acting Director of the GSB, says that the school continues to enjoy an outstanding reputation both in Africa and more broadly and is well placed to further the careers and increase the impact of committed change makers.“The UCT GSB full-time MBA is still the only MBA in Africa to be ranked in the Financial Times ranking of the top 100 MBAs in the world and it offers one of the best business educations on the continent. The GSB MBA curriculum is also the first in Africa to incorporate social innovation as a core subject. Equally groundbreaking is the MPhil in Inclusive Innovation – an interdisciplinary research-based degree that leads to the practical prototyping of new business models aligned to African markets – a first of it’s kind on the continent,” he says..
To be eligible for the scholarships, applicants must be a citizen of an African country, and must first be accepted onto the programme of their choice.
Anyone interested in applying for a Bertha Centre or MTN Solution Space scholarship should visit the GSB Scholarships information web page here. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2016.
Watch the MBA and MPhil videos on YouTube for more information on the programmes.
One of their friends, Keitumetse Sebokanelo (Pictured on left) went to the Department of Water and sanitation offices in Mafikeng where she saw a poster about the competition. Keitumetse decided to tell her classmates, Mmabatho and Ontlametse about it. They entered their names for the competition and received a phone call from the department. They did not waste time when they were told to come and speak on the topic “ Underground water”. They did research on underground water and presented to the department while others did drama and acting around the topic. “I was scared and did not know what to expect,” said Ontlametse.They did very well as their speech was loved by the judge and took first position in the whole North West province. Last month (27-29 June 2016) they went to represent the North West province in at Port Elizabeth for the Finale. There were learners from schools all over South Africa representing their provinces and the competition got tough. Unfortunately for them, they got fifth position, however, they did not walk away empty handed. The department awarded them with full bursaries to study at any university in South Africa, towards qualifications in water science or other courses related to water sanitation.
The Mahikeng Branch in the North West is fortunate to have tutors who are committed to playing a vital role in the lives of Ikamvanites. These passionate tutors take time from their busy study schedules to help learners increase their chances of accessing a dignified living. What is exciting about our diverse team of tutors is the fact that it also includes students who are very close to completing their tertiary studies, which serves to further inspire our learners. Tutors not only dedicate their time, but also their knowledge and understanding of the different subjects they did in high school. They also ensure that by the time the learners leave the sessions they have a clearer understanding of their school work. The greatest thing about our tutoring sessions would be that learners show dedication to their work and reaching their life goals. While our learners focus on improving their performance, they also continuously inspire one another. Those learners who are performing fairly well use the tutoring space to assist one another through collaboration and peer-to-peer support. In the end the hard work the Ikamvanites put in pays off.
The tutors see a lot of potential in the learners and believe that they can obtain the results they need to help themselves out of poverty through education. Learners in townships are faced with challenging problems such as having to drop out of school and having to resort to other choices which they believe they can improve their lives.One of the IkamvaYouth values is openness and integrity and it is well practiced in our branch as most of our learners are open about the challenges they face and are in an environment where they can access different information on how to find solutions.
Hearing some of our tutor’s views:
Quinta NAWEJI Yombi from Taletso FET College has been part of the branch since September 2015 and this is what he had to say about our learners and the tutoring space as a whole. “Our ikamvanites show respect to the tutors, and each other even though they hail from different schools. They all want to see themselves with a bright future, they show openness and are able to show commitment to improve their marks by working together as one. Their openness is so much that that they allow us do our work as tutors and this impact will certainly lead them to a bright future, as they will also be able to give back to the community the kind of knowledge they have achieved. We believe that as tutors and ikamvanites, to serve tomorrow’s new generation is through-education. Nelson Mandela said “Education is a very powerful weapon that we can use to change the world”.
Selorm Awudestey is a tutor in Geography, English, History and help with other subjects. She started volunteering at IkamvaYouth last year.My experience so far with the learners has been interesting. As these learners are all unique and each have different or similar approaches towards their studies. There are some learners who are shy to ask for assistance while others are talkative and don’t mind asking a lot of questions of which benefits the entire group. I try my best to implement a need for studying and encourage them to read as much as possible, not just their school books but various books to help them think better, analyze different subjects from all perspectives and generally to learn how to think out of the box.
A view from our Ikamvanites:
Joese’ Mentoor a learner from Danville Secondary School outlined that his experience is so unbelievable because he has never achieved any high marks in his school work until he joined IkamvaYouth. “I am so grateful to IkamvaYouth for giving me the opportunity to make my parents and this organisation-proud.”
Omphemetse Serapelo Learner from Leteane Secondary School mentioned that she loves IkamvaYouth as it helped her to improve her marks, “to learn communication skills between different peers around me and to be a better person as a whole. Sis B and Ausi Bonolo are the best, they give us the kind of support we need to be comfortable and have confidence in ourselves. We are grateful to have tutors who are able to explain the work in full to us and have the patience to explain it more than 5 times without being annoyed about it.” She said
Our organisation is truly fortunate to work with these amazing Ikamvanites
For more information about IkamvaYouth Mahikeng please contact: info@ikamvayouth.org
The IkamvaYouth Mahikeng branch was officially launched on the 6th of February 2016 at our host school, Danville Secondary. More than 300 people attended the event which was made up of learners from our main feeder schools Danville Secondary, Boitshoko Secondary and Setumo High school among others. Prominent Stakeholders from the Department of Education in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district, Lifeline, Famsa Mahikeng, University Of North West (Mahikeng), Taletso FET College, parents and the community were also amongst the attendees.
The Danville Secondary school hall was filled to capacity as people were eager to learn more about the programme IkamvaYouth had to offer to the learners. Our main funder Amalgamated Beverages Industries (ABI) spoke about their partnerships with different community projects under their Corporate Social Investment department(CSI) and also about continuing to invest in the IkamvaYouth programme. With Mahikeng being the 5th branch funded by ABI, “we are hoping to grow and fund more IkamvaYouth branches” said Nthonyana Kitsa their CSI specialist, “We really saw a gap and a need to grow and reach more learners in the North West” She added. Nthonyana went on to elaborate that “it is not just about the money that we donate but we want to see our country become a better place and groom leaders in partnership with programmes such as IkamvaYouth”
Also amongst the speakers was Mrs Moncho, a mother to an 18 year old Ikamvanite learner. She expressed her gratitude to IkamvaYouth for what it has done and is continuing to do for her child. “IkamvaYouth has really helped my child to improve her marks and to get her off the street. She is now focused and I am glad she is starting to see the possibilities of the future.”
Omphile Mosweusweu, a 15 year old learner in grade 11 thanked IkamvaYouth for giving him the opportunity to enrol in the programme. “I wish to become an Architect and a part-time entrepreneur and IY is helping me reach my goals. I heard about IkamvaYouth when it got introduced to my school and I never thought twice to grasp the opportunity”.
The Mahikeng branch started with tutoring sessions last August at Danville Secondary School whilst renovations for our office and tutoring hall were taking place. The branch started with only one grade (grade 10) of 82 learners. Unfortunately, some learners were removed from the programme due to failure to meet the 75% attendance requirement which left the branch with 59 learners at the end of term 4. With the growth of the branch we will now have grade 10s and 11s for 2016 with a plan to add the grade 9 class as we expand in the upcoming years, our grade 12 cohort will come from the previous years grade 11 class as we do not recruit any new grade 12s. About 200 learners expressed an interest of joining the Mahikeng branch, but the sad reality is that we only have the capacity to admit 80 learners for now. This really shows the level of demand for the programme in the area.
Of course, if government and corporates have keen ears and are interested in making an impact where it matters the most, this is an opportunity to invest financially in IkamvaYouth and increase its capacity to take in more learners; to be a part of a life-changing initiative. IkamvaYouth literally changes the lives and future prospects of learners, they benefit from the knowledge of successful ikamvanites who return to pay-it-forward by becoming tutors.
Lloyd Lungu