This year, IkamvaYouth will be running FIVE holiday programmes from June 14 – 26th.
In the Western Cape:
- For 120 learners from Nyanga at the University of the Western Cape
- For 120 learners from Khayelitsha at TSiBA
- For 50 learners from Masiphumelele at the Masi library
In Kwa-Zulu Natal:
- For 120 learners from Cato Crest at the Durban University of Technology
In Gauteng:
- For 80 learners from Ebony and Ivory Park at the Siyakhula Centre
Morning tutoring sessions will start at 9h00 and run until 17h00, with an hour lunch break in between sessions. There will also be two shorter tea breaks throughout the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Learners will be organized in groups by their subject streams and grade. All our programs offered free of charge to learners in grades 9 through 12. We work with the same learners for two to four years to ensure that they get the grades and the support needed to access tertiary education.
To improve the educational outcomes, we ensure that learners work on school studies for a minimum of two hours (often four hours) daily on school materials, working through past papers, or having key concepts and processes re-explained to them by our volunteers. Most of the tutoring is conducted by ex-learners who have returned to IkamvaYouth as volunteers while they pursue their tertiary studies. Last year, science-stream learners were able to witness their science experiments at St. George Grammar School, while other learners went for excursions such as visiting the National Gallery and Two Oceans Aquarium a week after the holiday programme. Career Planet also brought an online Mobile Kiosk with twenty computers to TSiBA to help our learners with ways of accessing online careers.
Due the lab accessibility, learners gain valuable computer literacy skills. Computer literacy is a critical skill for entering tertiary studies, learnerships, or the job market as society has become technology oriented. Most of our learners have not had any formal computer literacy classes at their schools, so these lessons are the only opportunity the learners have in acquiring such skills. Learners are engaged in discussion covering a plethora of topics from peer-to-peer relationships to waste management, creating art journals to HIV/AIDS. These discussions provided lively debate, and not only taught learners how to voice their opinions but built their confidence in speaking English.
The Media, Image and Expression programme was formally initiated during this programme. Learners were taught basic recording and filming skills and briefed to interview each other about issues that are important to them. These interviews spanned a range of topics.
Learners were also taught basic digital photography skills and given digital cameras for 2-3 days. The photographs were of an amazing standard and have already been exhibited at the Nazeema Isaacs library when IkamvaYouth had its Talent Show. The photographs provided a valuable source of revenue to continue this project, as well as, fund learner registration and application fees for their tertiary studies.
Lloyd Lungu