• Home »
• What we do »

Education

The IBT focuses on education as one of the core aspects of its business and believes that in so doing we contribute to one of government’s national priority areas. The government has placed a strong emphasis on foundation education, targeting the enrolment of all five-year-olds into Grade R (reception year). The IBT’s continued focus on early childhood development (ECD) is therefore aligned to government’s initiatives. We recognise that without a solid educational start in life, it is challenging for under–privileged children to break out of the cycle of poverty; and often ‘bridging programmes’ later on in their lives do not adequately fill these developmental gaps. More specifically, in line with our over–arching philosophy of women empowerment, we recognise the role of women in ECD; both as mothers at home and as professional care–givers in early learning centres providing for pre–school children up to six years of age. In this second year of implementing the ECD programme, we have added an element of community participation by introducing capacity–building for the school governing bodies.

Since inception, our support in this area has been directed towards the Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD). This is with the objective of assisting organisations to develop their strengths and push their boundaries, for the benefit of the Bojanala district of the North West Province. We aim to be an active, involved partner rather than simply a passive donor so as not to lose sight of the potential for these programmes to impact the broader macro levels.

The IBT entered into its second year of partnership with the CECD in conjunction with Keletsong. Keletsong has benefitted from this partnership through skills development which is contributing to its ability to become an independent ECD service provider. In the 2011 financial year, CECD was granted a total of R4 787 625 which was used to improve access to ECD centres for the children in Tlhabane, Bethanie, Rietspruit and Haartebees. A total of 35 ECD centres with the capacity to provide for approximately 2 400 children were identified to benefit from our partnership with CECD. Highlights of this partnership include:

• 40 ECD teachers were trained in introductory ECD
• ECD centres were provided with equipment and educational toys
• 160 school governing body members were trained in the management and running of ECD centres

To further support our focus on education, we are partnered with the Ukuqonda Institute (Ukuqonda) in the development and application of its acclaimed ‘REACH’ programme to improve the quality of both teaching and learning of mathematics, science and English at primary and secondary schools in the Bojanala district and beyond. The objective of this programme is to better equip learners for entry to tertiary institutions, in particular to the fields of engineering, science and technology. Ukuqonda also continues to provide literacy support in acknowledging the importance of language in the understanding of concepts in mathematics and science.

Our financial support to Ukuqonda in the 2011 financial year amounted to R1 772 824. This partnership has resulted in an improvement in the teaching and learning culture in the targeted schools with the following highlights:

• Educator support at four middle schools
• Learner support to 200 grade 10 to 12 students in mathematics and science
• Quality improvement in teaching and learning of mathematics and science at nine primary schools
• Literacy workshops for grade 3 and 4 teachers

• Disclaimer|
• Sitemap

© 2012 Impala Bafokeng Trust