The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) has revealed a staggering 81% of Grade 4 (10 year old) pupils in South Africa can't read for meaning. It means roughly eight out of 10 children need help locating and retrieving explicitly stated information in simple and easy text.

Local schools in Kayamandi are over-crowded and teaching resources are stretched – often resulting in 60 to 70 children per class. There is little opportunity for one-on-one teaching and support for those that may be struggling to grasp key and foundational concepts. The need to help children re-learn these concepts (especially in key subjects like English and mathematics) is increasing constantly.

At Songo.info taking our education programme to the next level has been part of our long-term goals. The COVID 19 lockdown gave us the perfect opportunity to implement the School in a Box tablet-based education platform.

School in a Box is a tablet-based education platform. It takes educational content based on the South African curriculum (CAPS) from a number of sources (Khan academy; SiyaVula etc) and uploads it onto the web and tablets that can then be accessed by the kids. It covers Grades 1 through 12. It allows our children to review and re-learn content that they may have already covered at school – but in a new format and at their own pace. The facilitator who works with the children will also be able to ascertain each child’s understanding, confidence, and progress in certain subjects, while being able to clearly identify children that may have learning difficulties.

Preparing kids for a more ‘online’ work environment is more essential now than it has ever been and the use of computers and tablets helps prepare them for their working environments after school.

Your donation goes towards providing qualified school teachers and education programme facilitators, licenses for both Reading Eggs and School-in-a-Box, maintaining our clubhouse computer lab as well as education supplies and stationery.