Hantam Community Education Trust -
Removing barriers to primary education in Northern Cape, South Africa
In South Africa, by the age of four, children from illiterate family backgrounds will have had 30 million fewer words spoken to them compared with their contemporaries’ wealthier parts of the county. At the age of three, the vocabulary of these children can be less than half that of their contemporaries. It is with this background that children in the townships and remote farming communities of the Northern Cape enter their first years school. In most cases, these children will be two years behind before they have even entered a classroom at the age of six.
Canon Collins Trust is working with Hantam Community Education Trust on a ground breaking project aiming to smash barriers to education and bring hope to these children. The project, funded by the British Big Lottery Fund is providing 800 children from illiterate families with the tools to make the most of their education and is also supporting and motivating a new generation of school teachers.
The Basic Concepts Programme developed by leading South African educational psychologist Dr Louis Benjamin helps children to perceive, organise and describe their environment in an accurate manner. The project trains teachers to use this pioneering programme to equip children with the conceptual tools to unlock and describe the world around them. Already, teachers are seeing a real impact in their classrooms, with confident children achieving for the first time.
All too often, poor health prevents children from achieving their potential in the classroom. The project is also providing health support for these children. Children are assessed for health problems by a school nurse so that cases of poor health can be quickly identified and treated. The children also receive daily vitamin supplements to boost their immune system and in cases where the children have been diagnosed as malnourished, they are provided with a multi-vitamin protein shake. This has made a tangible difference to classroom performance.
