Youth Empowerment through Education

In South Africa there is a big gap within the education system between those in previously disadvantaged communities and private schools. The education system in the township areas is way below par and is not providing the students with the skills and knowledge to improve their futures. Thousands of students are still being educated through a system that is failing them and trapping them in low income communities. The current education system does not provide them with the right skills to empower themselves or enable them to compete for employment at a suitable level. Students are completing their schooling but don't have the necessary skills to obtain employment or the basic skills to apply for work. 

As a result of the poor level of education that students are receiving from their local schools, many students drop out and do not complete their mandatory education to enable them to study further. The Learning Centres help the students re-engage with education and complete their basic requirements to be able to go on to study further at university. The style and delivery of programmes at the centres motivates the students to re-engage and complete their basic education which enables them to go on and study further at colleges or universities. It also gives helps them to change their attitude towards learning and become life long learners as they realise the importance of education to enable them to improve their futures and empower them to change their career pathways. 

The Learning Centre concept has achieved greatness far beyond expectation since opening in South Africa in 2012. An initiative started in the UK at all Premier League Clubs was brought back to South Africa because of the overwhelming need of the youth to narrow the gap and bridge the digital divide. Thousands of students have benefitted not only academically but also gaining life skills, improving their confidence and self-esteem and changing their attitude towards learning. The ethos and facilitation style at the learning centres has enabled the community to be empowered and become more employable through exciting educational initiatives and accredited courses. 

The Centres use the power of sport and high tech classrooms to enable students to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to empower themselves through education. 

The centres ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunities for all.

The centres serve the previously disadvantaged communities who live in the township areas of the country and are trapped in their circumstances as they are not receiving adequate education. Young people from ages 11-18 will have the opportunity to attend the centres after school to gain meaningful, solid education and skills to enable them to empower themselves to better futures and employment. Young adults aged between 18-25 will have the opportunity to learn and take accredited courses at the centres in the mornings. These courses will reward them with nationally recognised certificates that they can use to gain employment and start their own businesses. Teachers from the community will also attend the centres to learn how to use technology in the classroom and enable them to prepare the students for the future by being comfortable using technology. The centres will also help the students and teachers to get the most from the 4th Industrial revolution by skilling them to take advantage of developments in IT. Volunteers will also be welcome at the centres to assist with the delivery of the programmes and learn the skills to enable them to run the centres successfully in the future. The centres then employ local volunteers to continue with the delivery of the programmes to the local community.

The learning centres are based in the heart of the townships they serve, providing opportunities to the community to uplift themselves through education. The centres have been running successfully for over 10 years and provide programmes which meet the needs of the community. The programmes and opportunities have been perfected over the last 10 years so that the communities can get the maximum benefits from attending. 

Below are some of the achievements of the centres over the past 10 years. 

14000+ – Learners have attended the Learning Centres to date

675 + – Adults and teachers from schools supported the learners

100 – Regular volunteers who visited the centres each week gaining skills and becoming more employable

32   – Primary and High Schools attended the Learning Centres where individual programmes were created to cater for their specific needs

17 – Full holiday programmes delivered for high school pupils using coding and robotics

11 – Full time teacher’s professional development programmes delivered in partnership with the GDE

6 – Full Time ITEssentials programmes delivered for over 210 unemployed youth to enable them to gain certification and become employable

13 – Meaningful partnerships established with other educational organisations to enhance and complement our programme delivery

410 – Students from 8 new schools participated in Global Computer Science Week, learning to Code

22% – The average improvement made by School Learners in Maths

20% – The average improvement made by School Learners in English

1000+ – Hours of education programmes delivered throughout each year

2nd – Learning Centre has worked with 525 students and 225 youth from 10 local schools since opening in 2017 in Ratanda finding employment for over 70% of the youth who graduated from the programme.

2 – New satellite centres opened in Orlando replicating the programme at the main centre and working with 10 new schools and 364 new students

1 – Past pupil from the Learning Centre who spent 3 years with us became the Head boy of Horizon International School and attributed his success to the skills he gained while at the centre

1 – Volunteer, namely Lukhanyo Kwepile, became an ambassador for education in Germany for a year and represented the Learning Centre overseas after years of dedication to the centre as a volunteer and student

2 – Past Pupils were mentored throughout their school careers, became volunteers after school and are now employed by OPFC as facilitators at the Learning Centre

3 – new learning centres established in 2021 at 3 schools in townships of Johannesburg benefitting the whole school and the community surrounding it.

80>#/b### - of the youth who attained nationally recognised accreditations at the centre went on to find permanent employment or start their own businesses.

0 – the participation of previous students and community members in looting and unrest during the chaos that affected the nation in July 2021. Instead our students, teachers and community members were empowered to stand up and defend their local communities against social ills.

We are experiencing issues in the below areas that we hope Solve can assist us with:

Financial (e.g. improving accounting practices, pitching to investors)

Public Relations (e.g. branding/marketing strategy, social and global media)

Product / Service Distribution (e.g. expanding client base)

Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design, data analysis, etc.)

The learning centres use the power of sport and unique, fun activities to help the students re-engage with education and become life long learners. The teaching style and delivery methods speak to the needs of the students and personalise the learning experience. The state of the art equipment at the centres provides opportunities for students to learn and empower themselves in a manner that is not available to them at school or in their communities. The programmes have been perfected over the past 10 years so that students get maximum benefit from them and are able to learn vital skills in a unique, safe, motivating environment. 

The teaching and facilitation style is promoted to the teachers and volunteers who attend the centres so that they learn the importance of technology and help them to be comfortable in using new skills and methods to in turn educate the students they work with. This would change the market of education in schools when teachers return with newly developed skills and have a broader impact on the whole education system in the country. 

In the next year we would like to open 2 more learning centres in townships around Johannesburg so that each major township has at least 1 learning centre in it. 

In the next 5 years we would like to open centres nationally around the whole of South Africa so that every province has at least 1 learning centre in a local township. 

Through the learning centres we aim to have an impact on the lives of 100 000 people nationally in the next 5 years. We aim to narrow the educational gap and bridge the digital divide in these peoples lives.

For school students we measure their grades at school before the course and after the course and assess whether they are improving in Maths, English and ICT skills. 

For unemployed youth we assess the number of them who are able to find employment after they have completed a course with us. 

For small business owners we evaluate if their company has grown and reached its specific goals that we help the owners identify when they first attend the centres.

For teachers we provide courses in partnership with Microsoft and we assess their progress and assist them to pass the course. We measure the number of teachers who are able to pass the courses and at which level they are able to progress to.

By delivering exciting, interactive programmes in the heart of the community which adhere to the needs of the students, we are able to help those most in need to develop the skills and knowledge to help them improve their lives and empower themselves through education. By using the power of sport and technology we are able to help students to motivate themselves and become enthusiastic about learning and change their attitude towards education.

We use laptops/ computers that have internet access and Microsoft Office to provide opportunities where the students can participate in courses that help them to become competent in English , Maths , ICT, Coding, Robotics and digital literacy. Most of the beneficiaries of our learning centres do not have access to computers or the internet at home or school. We use a hi tech advanced IT environment to provide these opportunities for them and help them re-engage with learning.

We have a team and provide opportunities for all South African communities using our diverse nation to get the best from each other. South Africa is very diverse and known as the Rainbow Nation. We learn from each others differences and provide an inclusive learning environment. We aim to employ and make anyone who meets the criteria part of our team and provide opportunities for the previously disadvantaged members of the community. We are a Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment B-BBEE NPO with our beneficiaries being from a wide variety of diverse backgrounds and genders. 

We provide free educational opportunities for previously disadvantaged communities to help them improve their futures by becoming more employable and enabling them to compete on a global scale. We provide these services through learning centres based in the heart of the communities which have state of the art IT equipment and internet access. The communities we cater for do not have IT equipment of internet connectivity at home or school and the digital divide is growing bigger between them and other youth in other countries. The youth are in desperate need of initiatives like this which narrow the IT gap and empower them to re-engage with education. 

We use Corporate Social Investments ( CSI ) budgets from private companies in South Africa to receive sustained donations and grants.  This enables us to set up and operate learning centres in the poorest communities and covers all the expenses. 

We received funding from Orlando Pirates FC to set up and operate Learning Centres in Soweto for 10 years. This was accompanied by donations from Microsoft, Acer and Vodacom of IT equipment, licenses and software as well as connectivity to the internet so we could operate efficiently and provide unique opportunities in the heart of the township. 

We received funding from the Trevor Noah Foundation to open 3 more learning centres in schools in townships around Johannesburg and operate them for 3 years. These centres benefit the students, teachers and school management team and use a whole school approach to uplift the school and community to enable them to become ICT champions.