Maths and science coming to a theatre near you
ALOT OF what’s wrong with our economy, and many of the unemployment problems we face, can be blamed on the poor standards of maths and science teaching in the majority of our schools.
That’s the view of Martin Sweet, managing director of Primestars Marketing.
“The burning issue is that there is a dramatic shortage of skills in the hard sciences,” he says, and if we are to transform South Africa’s business sector, we must start by educating the youth in maths and science.”
Five years ago, Primestars started to make a contribution to doing just that by launching an Educ8 Grade 12 revision programme.
The project was Sweet’s brainchild and followed the model of other successful Primestars initiatives which have seen Ster Kinekor cinemas turned into theatres of learning on Sunday mornings, with children from rural and township schools bused in to take part in on-screen educational programmes.
Last week, at Monte Casino, this year’s edition of Educ8 was launched, with the Capitec Foundation and Bosasa Group as the main sponsors.
South32, Telkom, Siyakha Education Trust, Samsung, Tsogo Sun, kulula.com, Gearhouse and minions.co.za are also making valuable contributions.
Educ8 is a nationwide matric maths and science revision programme which aims to improve the performance of maths and science for schools in the public sector.
The Educ8 programme is geared towards providing pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds with matric revision in maths and science at cinemas throughout the country, in the run-up to the matric exams.
The programme consists of 10 pre-recorded revision sessions – five in maths and five in science.
These sessions cover the matric curriculum and are aimed at preparing disadvantaged youth for their matric exams.
Educ8 seeks to address any insecurities pupils may have as they prepare for their year-end exams, and in so doing, contributes to an increase in the number of pupils who excel in these subjects.
The filmed content is simultaneously broadcast to a network of 14 cinema complexes around the country on eight consecutive Sunday mornings.
The revision sessions are presented in an educational yet entertaining manner, allowing pupils to interact with subject experts who are in the theatres and available to answer questions.
The pupils are pre-registered and bused from their schools to the designated cinema venues where they are met by cinema hosts who help them register.
The initiative continues to reflect growth year-on-year and will run effectively in all nine provinces. The programme has produced remarkable results.
Ribane Laka High School in Mamelodi, Tshwane, reported an increase of between 15 and 20 percent in their Grade 12 maths and science results.
Neptal Khoza, the head of corporate affairs at the Capitec Foundation, says the programme fits well with their strategy of partnering to support education.
“We encourage and support these types of initiatives, as they address the necessity for critical skills in our society, the economy and particularly the industry we are part of,” he said.
Gavin Watson, group chief executive officer of the Bosasa group of companies, says they have learning and development built into their organisational DNA.
“As part of a three-tiered framework to our education and skills transfer drive, the development of youth through rehabilitation programmes, vocational training and community computer centres in rural and historical disadvantaged geographies, is testament to the group’s commitment to the holistic national economic development plan,” he said.
“We recognise the importance of maths and science in opening doors to job security, innovation, health, infrastructure development, services and technology.”
Sweet said: “We are proud to be associated with this project.
“It’s imperative for the corporate sector to work with the government to accelerate the process of creating a skilled nation.