Afrika Tikkun Bambanani

No child should be left behind

We are a non-profit organization that specializes in early learning, working with children aged 1-6 years. Currently, we operate in rural and underprivileged communities in 8 of the 9 provinces in South Africa, reaching 10,000 children and 800 practitioners across 200 ECD centers.

We provide a comprehensive curriculum to Early Learning centers (day by day step by step lesson plans for practitioners), along with learning and art resources and training, and mentorship to practitioners. Our online assessment center allows for the monitoring and tracking of children and practitioners, where reports can be easily downloaded. We take pride in our aligned curriculum with the Department of Education, including extension work from the IEB, and Montessori principles for multi-grade classrooms. We believe our curriculum is the best early learning offering in South Africa.

At Afrika Tikkun Bambanani, we firmly believe in our motto, "No child should be left behind." Therefore, we have developed an interactive learning app that includes the main learning outcomes of the curriculum. The puzzles and games in the app encourage problem-solving and cover knowledge and skills, cognitive development, fine motor skills, numeracy, and literacy. We encourage a love for reading and there are visual and audio books in multiple languages for relaxed reading time for children to enjoy in a quiet space with headphones. The back end of the app scores and monitors the progress of every child. While the App's big 5 characters take children on a Safari, each stop covers the theme of the week and extends on the learning activities in the curriculum. Inclusion is the new norm, therefore, our app not only caters for children who have the ability to work ahead but also those who require extra reinforcement and practice. 

One alarming statistic in South Africa is the high failure rate is in Grade 1. Children are not school-ready, and this is where Afrika Tikkun Bambanani provides a solid foundation for children to start school with a positive start to a successful school career.

We are passionate about our work and strive to make a difference in the lives of children in South Africa.

Team lead is the CEO and Co Founder

She heads the projects and curriculum role out in rural areas of SA

Theresa Michael - CEO Team lead

Tessa Forman - COO operations 

Sarika Bachoo - SME and project manager

Thabang Molefe - Liaison officer

Qaqamba Qangule- head of trainers and training

Kelebogile Molefe - Supervisor Trainer (5 provinces)

Aphelele Mapuko - Supervisor trainer (3 provinces) 

Gregory Khoury - App maintenance

Amber Vishwakarma - Content and game development

Jennifer Morrison - Content and game development

For the forgotten children of South African children to experience and receive equal education and teaching. 

South Africa faces many challenges in early learning education, including:

Inadequate access to early learning education: Many children in South Africa do not have access to quality early learning education due to a lack of resources, infrastructure, and qualified teachers. This lack of access can lead to significant disparities in learning outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged communities.

Poor quality of early learning education: Even when children have access to early learning education, the quality of the education provided can be substandard. This can be due to a lack of qualified teachers, insufficient resources, and inadequate curriculum development.

Language barriers: In South Africa, there are 11 official languages, and many children speak a language other than English or Afrikaans, which are the primary languages of instruction. This language barrier can make it challenging for children to learn and contribute to lower learning outcomes.

Funding and resource constraints: Many early learning education centers in South Africa face funding and resource constraints, which can limit their ability to provide quality education to children. This lack of resources can lead to inadequate facilities, lack of teaching materials, and insufficient staff.

Little or no access to technology and interactive teaching methods.

Other problems:

- Unequal access to quality early learning education

- Poor infrastructure and lack of resources

- Shortage of qualified and skilled practitioners

- Poor performance in international assessment standards

- Inadequate funding from the Department of Education

- lack of awareness of the importance of ECD

- Limited inclusion programs

- Children are not adequately prepared for formal education

We firstly up-skill and train practitioners and we continue to provide training, support and mentorship for 1 year.

We provide standardised curriculum in forms of manuals, workbooks and theme posters to ECD centres. This is for children aged 1-6 years. 

We have an online assessment centre that tracks and monitors every child and practitioner continuously throughout the year. The assessments are done online and a child's milestones are tracked as well as their cognitive, physical and emotional development. Teachers do baseline, midline and enplane assessments to monitor progress. They are also required to upload monthly tasks. 

We have developed an App called BAMBA LEARN. This is an extension of the curriculum. Children use the app for about 30 minutes per day to enhance and extend on what has been learnt in class. 

Inclusion is one of our primary missions so children that work slower and need to have concepts reinforced, are given time to repeat concepts using different games in the same level. The app covers the whole ECD curriculum for children Age 2-6 years. 

Children age 3-6 are assessed 4 times in the year. This is over the 2 school terms. 

the continuous assessment is tracked on a tracking sheet and uploaded on the assessment centre. there are sections under each learning outcome for the practitioner to complete. the learning areas assessed are:

cognitive development, fine and ross motor skills, knowledge and skills, psychosocial and emotional development, numeracy, literacy, creative Arts.
Their development and tracked and graphed. Comparisons are made against the national average. Schools and regions are compared. learning gaps are analysed to close gaps in the curriculum and up-skill practitioners.
children are weighed and height measured. Their growth is tracked and graphed. 

Screening Tools have been developed by a group of therapists for practitioners. Practitioners work through these questions and answer according to each child. Children with cognitive and physical delays are RED flagged. Trainers go into the classroom and help teachers to give extra assistance to these children. Some children are referred to clinics fr further investigation into eye testing and hearing assessments. 

The back end of the Bamba Learn App also scores and tracks learner development and progress in all the learning outcomes and learning categories. 

Practitioners do a baseline test prior to training. They then do a midline test after the 5 day training. An endline assessment is done after 6 months. Comparisons are made. Teachers are requires to upload monthly tasks. Tasks are scored and progress tracked. 

In 2022, 85% of our learners were school ready against the national average of 35%. 

Children that were on the programme from jan 2022 to Nov 2022: progress and development increased by 55%. Literacy improved by 45% and Numeracy by more than 50%. 

Research has proven that children require a structured curriculum. Teachers require structured lesson plans and up-skill training. 

Building foundational skills: Young children need to develop a range of foundational skills in areas such as language, literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional development. Structured teaching can provide a framework for developing these skills systematically.

Technology aids a teacher in the classroom, especially when it is used as an extension of the curriculum 

We presently have 10 000 children on our program. We need to reach more children in remote rural areas. The App that we have developed will assist children to access the curriculum by interacting with educational games. Play based learning. 

Audio books will enhance literacy and the sequencing, puzzles and other games will develop problem solving skills. Rural children will be exposed to technology and they can use the App to extend on the curriculum and work on strengths and weaknesses. 

Children should not be over exposed to technology. What is the healthy duration of time that a child should use technology per day?

How to best engage 2-6 year old children in learning

By including teachers and parents in s child's education, the impact that it makes

Our online assessment centre tracks the development and progress of children from term 1 to term 2. It tracks and records the results of an assessment sheet (continuous assessment). 

I would like to compare their progress and their outcomes to world standards of Numeracy and Literacy fro the same age group. 

- Extend our App into more rural areas

- To have our content and assessments validated by LEAP

- To receive expert advice on the contents of our App

Short Term

• Improve on the contents of the Bamba Learn App
• Receive advice and guidance on how to reach more rural children and give them the opportunity to use the App
• Compare data results to world standards

Long Term

• Partner with other foundations
• Network with funders who are prepared to invest in the program
• Up-skill many more practitioners in rural areas of SA