Solving Problems by doing Maths
Izibalo, meaning“mathematics or counting” in the isiXhosa language of South Africa, is a Non-Profit Company that provides learner-centred maths tuition to learners in rural and township areas in South Africa.
We have a maths catastrophe in South Africa; only 28% of learners wrote the maths final exam in grade 12 in 2020 and the situation is going from bad to worse. In the Eastern Cape, 41% of learners took pure maths as a subject in Grade 10 and they achieved an average score of 29.74% in 2023. This is due to the lack of teachers, resources, and infrastructure leading to overcrowded classes and learners who can’t solve problems to become contributing members of society.
Izibalo NPC tutors mathematics to children in rural and township areas from grade 8 and 9 for them to gain the essential foundation, thus the confidence, to choose pure mathematics in grade 10. We then continue tutoring these learners up to grade 12 and all our services are free of charge. Learners earn their space by being dedicated and consistent young people.
We also train and capacitate youth mathematics tutors who will be absorbed into the education system of South Africa once they are qualified mathematics teachers. Our goal is to increase the number of learners who matriculate with distinctions in pure mathematics in rural and township areas.
OurVision
To increase the number of learners who write the final pure maths exam in Grade 12 in the rural and township areas of South Africa. To achieve this, will improve their vocational prospects and afford them many more career paths in the future.
MathsPods
Izibalo plans to utilise “Maths Pods”, which are prefabricated or container classrooms that will be located within a school yard. This is needed due to the lack of infrastructure and resources these schools have and to avoid competing with the little resources the schools have. The Maths Pod will cater for 100 learners.
Learners’ commitment, progress and attendance are recorded and reported to parents and/or guardians monthly. A quarterly school report will be given to Izibalo NPC to monitor the learner’s progress at school and shared with funders, and all invested parties.
To date, Izibalo has tutored 86 learners from Greenpoint Secondary School, Ebenezer Majombozi High School, Qaqamba High School, Alphendale Secondary School and Mzokhanyo High School in a structured programme where each learner attends a minimum of three 1-hour sessions per week. From these schools, 513 grade 8 learners were given baseline assessments of which only 8 learners obtained over 50% for grade 7 work. This shows the magnitude of the problem and why interventions should be implemented earlier on in the learner’s school journey.
Our first container classroom will be launched in July 2024
Sponsors
