Guest 1 on the line: Lesego Maforah -Strategic Relations Manager at The JumpStart Foundation
Did you know that South Africa's mathematics results are second lowest in the world? Nearly 2/3rds of learners can't do basic operations in Grade 5! Are you aware that a simple solution is impacting the outcome of early grade mathematics in under-resourced classrooms around the country?
The JumpStart Foundation is a NPO addressing township maths teachers' need for support with a combined tech and human solution (that also tackles youth employment!)
We train unemployed youth, like Moleboheng Hoffman, as education assistants in under-resourced mathematics classrooms, helping foundation phase teachers to ensure that children have a basic number sense by the end of Grade 4.
So... where does the tech come in? JumpTrak is a M&E app developed by our parent company, JumpCO, enabling the youth tutors to grade each child daily. With a granular assessment of how learning is happening we can assess which children, grades or schools on the programme are falling behind.
Funding from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation provides digital "workbooks" that gamify maths learning in schools where teacher-pupil ratios typically preclude successful learning. Since 2016, JumpStart Foundation has been addressing foundation phase numeracy in 26 schools in Katlehong. In Sasolburg the programme, which caters to 10 schools, has run since 2014. In just 18 months, independent UJ evaluation shows significantly improved numeracy outcomes.