Dalton creche goes digital

PAVING the way for a bright future, the Denis Hurley Centre is making sure their youngest beneficiaries learn how to use digital technology. With a donation of iPads, the preschoolers at the DHC’s Dalton creche have been learning how to use the internet. There are 15 children aged between four and five years old, who attend the creche.

Director of the Denis Hurley Centre, Raymond Perrier, said the children came in to the DHC for their classes since there is no electricity or WiFi at the Dalton site.

“We handle a lot of tablets at the DHC but a very special donation from Khanya Africa Networks led to the delivery of 15 iPad-type tablets. It was a great gift; but hardware is only useful if you have the ‘human-ware’ to unlock it. We were blessed that two of the occupational therapy students from UKZN who have been with us for the past few months took on the task of learning how to teach the children.

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“Tiffany Cook and Nerisha Maghoo familiarised themselves with the devices, identified an app that was suited to the age group, and worked with Charity Motaung (the pre-school teacher) to lead short classes. We were amazed at the ease with which the children learnt how to identify their profiles (each had a different animal), to use the keyboard and to swipe the screen,” he added.

Ruth Birtwhistle who works closely with the Dalton Creche said the iPad donation allows the children to learn computer skills they will need to survive in the digital era.

“The Manning Road Methodist Church has been very supportive. During the Covid-19 lockdown they were not able to be as involved. This year they had a new pastor join them and tried to renew their connection with us. They came down and donated some clothes and the next thing we knew, they had donated 15 iPads for the children, so they will not be left behind because of their background and the way the world is (advancing technologically).

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“They want the children to be computer literate so when they go to school they are not on the back foot, they have had that exposure,” she said.

“The church project at Dalton began a few years ago. I joined the church last year. It’s a centre that we work closely with and we are very proud as a church to be involved with the project,” said Thokozani Mthembu, resident minister at Manning Road Methodist Church.

Commenting on the programme, OT student, Tiffany Cook said: “We were educating them on the use of the tablet. We downloaded KHAM Academy Kids App and they each have their own profile. We’re educating them on how to use the App. We rely on the crèche teacher to translate.”