Khayelitsha school set to become model for digital access to education
A collaboration between two leading suppliers of online educational resources, d6 and Snapplify, will see schools in South Africa’s disadvantaged communities gaining increased access to essential digital tools to assist them with providing learners with the best education possible.
In the pilot project for this initiative, the d6 Group, South Africa’s leading online school management platform, has joined forces with The Snapplify Foundation to provide digital tools, content and training to the Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT) – a no-fee government high school in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
COSAT has been using the d6 platform since 2016 and the entire platform is made available to COSAT at an 80% discount. In 2021, d6 will be donating up to R40 000 worth of online training for the school’s staff to help them further understand the details and capabilities of the platform. “This training will empower school staff and management to make full use of the software,” explains Willem Kitshoff, CEO of d6.
“We provide schools with management systems that enable school heads and teachers to focus on their first passion – teaching and learning – knowing that the administration and management role is taken care of. If a school is managed well it operates well – delivering the best education possible to its learners.”
In addition to this training and discounted d6 platform fee, The Snapplify Foundation will be setting up a digital library for the school, providing students and staff with 24/7 access to over 50 000 free e-books. Going forward, the foundation will work with Snapplify and publishing partners to supply additional library content that supports teacher and student requirements.
The Snapplify Foundation will also provide free training to teachers on using the Engage e-learning platform which, in addition to the e-library, comes with the ability to share multimedia resources with students, helping to improve engagement and understanding as the curriculum is brought to life. In addition, COSAT teachers will be registered for Snapplify Teacher Benefits, a programme that provides educators with free and discounted teaching aids.
COSAT principal Phadiela Cooper shares: “We’ve been using d6 since 2016 to do our learner academic reports, attendance registers, learner profiles and finances. Being able to upskill our staff so that they can use d6 and Snapplify effectively is going to make a real difference – and getting an e-learning platform and e-library with thousands of wonderful books is any educator’s dream.”
This is the first step in what will be a long working relationship between d6 and The Snapplify Foundation. The long-term goal is for d6 and The Snapplify Foundation to partner with the private sector in order to secure funding to offer many schools in disadvantaged areas these products and services at no cost.
“There are a lot of schools in South Africa and only a small percentage of them can afford these products and services,” says Debra Ogilvie-Roodt, Head of the Snapplify Foundation. “Between us, we plan to use our large network of schools, as well as private sector partnerships, to drive measurable change in education – in South Africa and beyond.”
“We are excited about this pilot project that aims to create a model which demonstrates what a full digitally adopted school looks like. From d6’s schools management perspective, if schools are not being managed well, the quality of learning will be jeopardised. We plan on changing this, assisting poorer schools to access the d6 offerings to help them with their management systems and ultimately improve the quality of education,” concludes Kitshoff.
For more information on d6, please visit www.d6.co.za. For more information on the programmes and interventions that The Snapplify Foundation is working on, please visit The Snapplify Foundation Web site. E-mail [email protected] to chat about how you can partner with the foundation and d6 to make digital education more accessible.