The Department of Basic Education’s Covid-19 plan to reopen schools in South Africa on the 6th of May has suffered a serious setback after the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and an education district in Mpumalanga indicated they were not ready for staff to return.
The closure of schools due to the outbreak of Covid-19 has resulted in many challenges, with many learners missing out on large pieces of work. “Grade 12 learners have already lost more than 30 days since the lockdown, this model of mediating learning will strengthen teaching and learning in the absence of face-to-face conventional classes, “said Themba Mola, COO of Kagsio Trust.
In an effort to support rural learners without access to television classes, computers or data, Kagiso Trust has partnered with the Limpopo Department of Education to provide radio lessons to our Grade 12 learners. “Kagiso Trust has long believed that education is the key to overcoming poverty,” said Mankodi Moitse, CEO.
The scheduled lessons will commence via Capricorn FM radio from Monday, 11 May 2020 and will be hosted for an hour, once a day, broadcasted from Monday to Sunday on Capricorn FM, Sekhukhune FM and Tubatse FM. The first 30 minutes is allocated to the teacher to mediate learning and the other 30 minutes will be reserved to the learners to interact with the teacher through questions or comments.
Capricorn FM will focus on MST subjects (Mathematics, Sciences and Technologies), including Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Agricultural Sciences. “Currently, the main subject of the five, that still poses a serious challenge in the province is Mathematics, whose performance is still below the threshold,” explained Mola.
The content of the lessons will cover term 1 and 2 scopes and will be supplemented by face-to-face contact sessions after learners have returned to school. The other 7 non-MST subjects will be broadcast by the community radio stations in the both Sekhukhune East and South education districts. They include English FAL, Sepedi HL, Accounting, Business Studies, Economics, History and Geography.
The Limpopo MEC for Education, Polly Boshielo said, “Crafted lessons will be offered by expert appointed subject teachers with an excellent track record in the subject that they offer. These are the teachers who recorded 80% and more pass rate in the subjects that they have been teaching since 2017. We believe that their expert content knowledge will benefit more than 80% of the current grade 12 learners in Limpopo.”
