ASTRON SUPPORTING MATHS EDUCATION IN THE NORTHERN CAPE
Kudumane Primary School, Kuruman, Northern Cape
Kudumane Primary School, located in Kuruman in the Northern Cape, recently started to participate in the My Maths Buddy program thanks to Astron’s amazing support. One of the main goals of the My Maths Buddy program is to bring higher understanding of Maths knowledge to learners. Maths knowledge is a crucial fundamental in a learners’ abilities to do problem solving and succeed in Maths.
DID YOU KNOW? Statistically, based on the assessments run with learners from different schools in South Africa the average understanding of Foundation Maths (grade R-3) is between 20-30%.
It shows that learners experiencing a huge gap in their understanding of the basics of Mathematics and this gap affects learners’ ability to comprehend Maths content in their current grade and makes it more confusing. The My Maths Buddy program focuses on decreasing and eradicating this gap.
The program was successfully launched at the beginning of the year at Kudumane Primary school, and all participating Maths teachers and learners have completed the initial training and launched their My Maths Buddy Clubs at the beginning of term 3.
New Skills to Help Learners with Maths
“I learned a lot especially on using My Maths Buddy dictionary that was new to me, but now I can use it easily and it will help me to go back to start loving Maths as a subject. I also learned how to help learners that have trouble in learning. For the past year I thought Mathematics is difficult until My Maths Buddy Program arrived.”
– Grade 2 Maths Teacher
I love Maths!
112 learners from grade 4 and 6 attended the My Maths Buddy program and learned new skills on how to learn Maths with understanding. Many learners expressed themselves in the similar words to this grade 6 learner: “I feel happy because we learn more about Maths and I love it.”
The initial training was an amazing event attended by the different stakeholders all wishing learners and teachers success in learning Maths with understanding.
Ms. Brenda Gaetsewe, the Circuit Manager for Kuruman DBE district also attended the event and addressed learners during the program and encouraged them to use the resources and knowledge acquired.
From Right to Left: Mr. Brandin Prolad The My Maths Buddy Training Manager with Mr. Zula Tlholoe the Enterprise & Supplier Development Superintendent at Tshipie Ntle Mine, Ms. Brenda Gaetsewe the Circuit Manager of Kuruman and Mr. Gordon Lebitso the Principal at Kudumane Primary School.
We were also delighted to welcome Astron’s representatives who travelled from Johannesburg to be part of the program and meet the school’s management and the participating learners. We thank Ms. Nocawa Tyini the CSI Manager and Ms. Zuziwe Khumalo, the Line Manager from Astron Energy who represented the company.
Last but not least thank you very much to Mr. Zula Tlholoe, the Enterprise & Supplier Development Superintendent at Tshipi e Ntle Mine who is an integral part of this project. We thank you for being part of it.
We thank all the stakeholders for taking the time to be part of this initiative. Your involvement is hugely appreciated by the school and the My Maths Buddy team.
Learners have begun the journey of Maths understanding together with their teachers who already formed up extra mural activities during the last term and started to work on closing the gap of their Maths understanding.
Some preliminary results already show improvement in Maths understanding by 16% in grade 4 learners and 6% in grade 6 learners.
We will continue on our journey to help every learner to achieve great understanding of Maths.
We would like to thank the Executives and Staff of ASTRON for their amazing support that they give to the project and their dedication to making this country a better place for everyone to live in!
