Many sectors are starting to pick up where they left off prior to level 4 lockdown restriction were implemented – including South Africa’s extremely hard-hit education sector, with schools officially reopening on 19 July after weeks of learning time lost.
UNICEF estimates that learners will have been set back by as much as a full school year since the start of the global pandemic in 2020.“Despite being given the green light to head back to the classroom again, maintaining COVID-19 safety protocols while engaging in contact learning remains crucial,” says Taylor Kwong, CSI manager at fibre infrastructure provider, Vuma.
“Helping learners, parents and educators stay safe by ensuring they have a good supply of effective hand sanitisers for classrooms and other contact areas of schools is a top priority right now, as we continue to search for ways that we can be part of the solution and offer our support in these unsettling times.”
Vuma is currently working in collaboration with the Impilo Collection Foundation, which was established in 2020 as a result of the devastation caused by the pandemic. The goal of their collaboration is to help curb COVID-19 cases and make a positive impact across the schools that form part of Vuma’s ‘Fibre to Schools’ network.
Vuma’s Fibre to Schools programme offers access to a free 1Gbps fibre broadband connection to every registered primary and high school that its fibre installation teams pass when deploying the Vuma fibre network in South Africa.
Working with Vuma, which has partnered with iSchoolAfrica to help distribute to schools across the country, and tapping into the fibre provider’s network of schools, the Impilo Collection Foundation has distributed over 4,000 litres of hand sanitiser to 30 schools, benefitting educators and students across all nine provinces in South Africa. This is just one of three consignments that the organisation plans to distribute, with 5,000 litres of hand sanitiser distributed across the country in addition to this batch.
According to Deidre Xulu, principal of Reshomile Primary School in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, receiving this donation has assisted in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and also as a back-up for the school’s santiser allocation. “Applying for stock of sanitiser requires careful planning and timing, which we aren’t always able to accurately anticipate as the need varies depending on the situation.
At times we’ve had to ration our supply whilst awaiting new stock, or else use our maintenance funds to replenish our sanitiser stock – which puts a lot of strain on us financially as we are a no-fee-paying school. Having this donation is an incredibly valuable back-up supply that will help ensure consistent safety for our learners, staff and other stakeholders.”
“The pandemic has caused devastating interruptions in the education of South Africa’s youth, but it’s our belief that no child deserves to be left behind,” says Angela Yeung, philanthropist and founder of the Impilo Collection Foundation. We want pupils across the country to have the opportunity to learn and grow. We want them to be confident about their futures. And it’s also important for our educators to feel safe while teaching during these challenging times.”
