Johannesburg - A solid foundation in maths and science is required to access the careers that the fourth industrial revolution requires, a tough ask for many South African learners who face a host of challenges in accessing a decent education.
But a national maths and science revision programme, EduCate, is working to turn the tide, providing learners with the support they need to succeed in their matric exams and giving them the opportunity to obtain employment in sought-after industries.
Primestars MD Martin Sweet said EduCate, a public-private partnership between youth-development expert Primestars, the Department of Basic Education and various corporate sponsors, launched its 2023 roll out with the strapline #BackingTheClassOf2023.
The innovative revision programme reaches learners through cinema screenings, rural school activations and digital platforms.
“EduCate uses cinemas as educational Theatres of Learning nationally. In so doing, our objective was to revolutionise the way we teach, making STEM subjects more accessible, engaging, and relevant to learners,” said Sweet.
The cinema screenings are made up of 10 pre-recorded revision sessions, five in maths and five in science. These sessions cover the entire matric curriculum and are aimed at preparing South African youth from under-resourced areas for their final matric maths and science examinations.
The programme also includes dedicated maths and science textbooks, access to a teacher network, an extended rural footprint and free WhatsApp support with digital content and online lessons via www.primestarsdigital.co.za, ensuring that learners from schools that cannot access the cinema tutorials are still able to benefit.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela said: “As government we see this as a great opportunity for the private sector, communities and government to work together. We’ve seen wonderful results come out of this programme but what we really want to see is more schools and more learners involved, as well as more teachers trained in this type of intervention to improve our maths and science results.”
Tweet added that In 2022, Educate reached more than 40 000 matric learners in high schools from under-resourced communities across South Africa.
“Critically, the Impact Report that was commissioned to track the results of the 2022 Educate cohort showed a minimum average of 15% improvement in participating students’ results,”he added.
A learner from Sandtonview Secondary School, Khanya Selane, said: “It is key for me to do well in science and maths because the career I want to go into requires those subjects, and I don’t only need to pass them but I need to get good marks. I’ve realised that the competition is way too tight and I need to stand out. That’s why I need the EduCate Programme,” she said.
Ever the innovator, Primestars will lead a national call for South Africans to join the
movement. Organisations such as Standard Bank, Liberty, Omnia, Bidvest, Cell C, Sasria, AECI, Spar, Women’s Development Business, Richfield, and others for committing to #BackingTheClassOf2023.