Sparkle returns to young Thembisa learners’ eyes
Nokuphila caters for the poorest of the poor in the community who have borne the brunt of the worst of the pandemic that is sweeping through the country.
The various preventative measures that schools have to adhere to have had educators scrambling to find viable solutions focused on making sure their learners don’t only suffer academically but also psychologically – all the while staying compliant with the latest government regulations.
It’s a mammoth task that has seen teachers, school bodies and parents brave many different roles to take on new tasks and responsibilities without much warning or preparation.
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Understandably, some have met these new demands better than most and often it’s proven to be the schools that don’t lack for funding or resources such as private schools or public schools located in more affluent, suburban communities. But, what about the lower-income schools such as those in the rural areas and informal settlements that cater to the poorest of our society?
One such school has proven its mettle with a number of innovative ways to help assist its teachers, learners and their parents during this strange and unprecedented time in history – Nokuphila Pre-Primary and Primary School in Thembisa which forms part of the Love Trust initiative.
According to Shepherd Chihwehwete, head of the senior grades at Nokuphila Primary, Nokuphila caters for the poorest of the poor in the community who have borne the brunt of the worst of the pandemic that is sweeping through the country.
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“Most of our learners come from families where they do not have anything or little to eat and for some of them, the meals they get at school are the only meals they’ll have for the day until they come back to school the following morning. So, the provision of meals is something which really touches my heart and touches these children. Funding and donations really go a long way to feeding those children who only receive healthy meals at school.”
The Love Trust believes in future prosperity through quality education and Christian values and runs a number of initiatives focused on children’s education and upskilling of teachers. These include their flagship, Nokuphila Pre-Primary and Primary School, their Early Childhood Development (ECD) Teacher Training Academy in Thembisa and their curriculum support for ECD practitioners across the country.
The start of June saw the return of Grade 7 learners to the school. This in turn posed a number of different challenges staff at Nokuphila had risen to meet, many of which weren’t academic in nature.
“The first two days when the learners came back to school the sparkle in their eyes was no longer there. But as the week progressed, that liveliness and that sparkle were back. We shared their experiences during their stay at home and some of those experiences are really not pleasant with regards to food, as in the case of those with parents who do odd jobs that couldn’t find work during the lockdown.
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“And with regards to workbooks, some of the parents have little or no education at all. So, it was difficult for them to get help from their parents. But now that they’ve returned to school and have contact with the teachers, they have the assistance they need.
“The teachers are explaining the work to them and we are running a catch-up programme to cover what they’ve missed and what they did not understand. That face-to-face interaction is helping bring back the liveliness in the learners – the enthusiasm to learn.”
Along with the catch-up programme, learners that have returned to school will be tested to see how much of the previous curriculum they’ve retained during the lockdown period and will be seated accordingly in the classrooms so those that need special attention will be able to receive the extra care.
Themba Temba, the newly appointed principal at Nokuphila Primary School, said: “Before Covid-19, learners were so excited to come to school but now as you see them lining up, their energy has been crushed. You can even see and read their faces to see how they feel.
“You see the fear in their expression mixed with a happiness to be back at school. There were various emotions that they went through, especially on the first day. But I’m happy to say as the week went on, because they have learned and understood what Covid-19 is and what they are expected to do, their energies returned and that reflected in the learning which also showed improvement.”
As the schools prepare for the next group of learners to return to the classrooms on July 6, the staff at Nokuphila are trying, through trial and error, to refine their current approach to these new circumstances while also searching for new ways that will better assist their learners and the teachers.
Nokuphila and schools like it are to be commended for their dedication to not only the academic needs of their learners but their psycho-social needs as well.
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