It is a new year and the Faculty of Arts and Design (FAD) at DUT is looking to implement new ideas to its Adopt-a-School project.

The brainchild of FAD Executive Dean Dr Kenneth Netshiombo, Adopt-a-School was established in March 2011. Its mission is to improve the matric pass rate of the project’s current beneficiary, iLanga Secondary School, KwaDabeka, by introducing and implementing effective teaching techniques and offering support. Recently, FAD Deputy Dean Professor Graham Stewart as well as FAD lecturers Dr Sylvia Zulu and Odette Swift who are also involved in the project met with the executive staff of iLanga Secondary School to discuss the way forward for this progressive and dynamic initiative. Dr Zulu is the Adopt-a-School Project Facilitator while Swift is the project’s Assistant Facilitator.

One of the ideas put forward was to expand the Saturday tutoring programme and offer, in addition to Mathematics, extra classes for Life Sciences, Natural Science and Accounting, subjects pupils were seen to be struggling in.

ILanga Secondary School is situated in KwaDabeka, Clermont. With only limited resources, the high school has struggled to rise above its below-average matric pass rate for a few years, said the project facilitators. The school principal, Mr Hlakanyana, said that matric pupils often seem demoralised by the circumstances in which they find themselves and do not pay enough attention to their studies. It was thus common for most not to meet university requirements. It was for this reason that it was decided to boost the pupils’ self-confidence and morale through a promised visit to DUT’s City Campus and a study-skills workshop for Grade 12 learners.

The past two years have not been a walk in the park for the project though. Dr Zulu remembers not knowing where to begin. A trip to Spain soon after her agreement with Dr Netshiombo however gave her the necessary direction. “I had gone to present a (research) paper in Spain when I heard Professor Lucy Haagen’s presentation (another speaker at the event) on mobile learning in South Africa. I was fascinated by her project so I spoke to her afterwards,” said Dr Zulu.

She soon learnt of Prof Haagen’s M-Ubuntu project, a mobile learning programme that aims to address the literacy crisis in South Africa. Prof Haagen, together with Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter of M-Ubuntu’s affiliate organisation Learning Academy Worldwide helped launch the Adopt-a-School project. The launch took place at the school in September 2011 and was attended by Dr Netshiombo, the Head of the KZN Department of Education Dr Nkosinathi Sishi and other high profile officials from the provincial Education Department’s Pinetown District Office.

Prior to the launch, second-hand mobile phones from the United States of America were donated towards Adopt-a-School. The e-learning programme took off. Lecturers in the department of Media, Language and Communication at DUT attended a workshop on how to operate the mobile phones. The programme was thereafter started at iLanga Secondary School, where both learners and teachers were trained to use the mobile phones whilst being familiarised with the notion of e-learning. The training of DUT staff and the presence of Prof Haagen at the Adopt-A-School Launch was made possible, in part, by the assistance of Dr Lavern Samuels, the Director of the DUT International Education and Partnerships Directorate.

The lack of funding has, however, temporarily stopped the mobile learning programme. According to Swift, Adopt-a-School has seen some setbacks to achieving goals. “There are many factors that influence the setbacks. For instance, we realised a need for a computer lab at iLanga Secondary but we cannot install computers without ensuring that a proper fencing system, gate, windows, security systems, etc, are in place. A lot still needs to be done so we are taking things one step at a time,” said Swift.

Last year (2012), iLanga Secondary School matric pupils were invited to visit the DUT City Campus. This was done to fulfill Dr Netshiombo’s promise made to the school at the project launch to annually provide its Grade 12 pupils with an opportunity to experience a tertiary education environment and enable them to dream big. Swift believes that this visit, amongst other factors, contributed to an increase in the school’s 2012 matric pass rate. “The improvement in the results from a 43 percent Grade 12 pass rate in 2011 to 70 percent in 2012 is an encouraging sign that the project is bearing fruit,” she said.

With three other subjects to be included in the Saturday School programme, the project facilitators hope to see not only an improvement in the number of matriculants, but in the subject marks as well.

– Naledi Hlefane

Pictured: The DUT Project team visit to iLanga Secondary School, KwaDabeka, earlier this year. From left: Mr Nhlanzi; iLanga Secondary School Deputy Principal, Mr Hlakanyana; iLanga Secondary School Principal, Dr Kenneth Netshiombo; DUT FAD Executive Dean, Dr Sylvia Zulu; Project co-ordinator, Professor Graham Stewart; FAD Deputy Dean and Ms Dlamini, iLanga Deputy Principal.