SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL NGOS

AS COVID-19 swept across the world, education made a mass move online. However, in South Africa, where our digital divide is stark and bleak, it has left vulnerable children further behind.

Most of our schools are grappling with the overcrowded classrooms and lack of water and basic sanitation. Without access to tech and data over the past months, these teachers and learners have not had educational continuity and even with a trimmed curriculum, they face a monumental backlog.

It’s vital that there is support for educational NGOs.

Sibongile Khumalo, the executive director of The Learning Trust, said there was a need to focus on boosting community-based efforts to implement proven strategies, like after-school programmes, and new innovations that helped under-served schools.

“Organisations such as our After School Programme partners… are highly valuable reservoirs of local knowledge, expertise and relationships within school communities that can now be mobilised for collaborative and meaningful action.

“We’ve seen our partner organisations… help practically address immediate educational needs. They are playing roles in monitoring sanitation at schools, as well as reaching out to learners who are still at home due to the phased return to school.

“The disproportionate ways that young South Africans are experiencing the Covid-19 crisis calls for extraordinary collaborations between government, the NGO sector, education donors and underserved communities to find innovative, and sustainable solutions.”