TechReady Building STEM Skills for 50 Kids in SA

United Way South Africa project campaign - Learners Awaiting Maths & Science Extra Tuition (62234), has been running from December 2023 until today, 26 March 2024. We have tried to promote the campaign locally, however, due to GlobalGiving being a global organization, corporates locally in South Africa are not able to participate on it for a few reasons including the currency exchange (ZAR to USD), tax implications where they might not receive tax rebates from the South African Revenue Services, similar to the USA IRS. We are grateful to GlobalGiving for giving us the platform, however, we have not received any donations on this campaign up to so far. Below is the story of one of the projects we are busy with, which requires urgent funding/ donations: 

The name ‘Mamelodi’ was the name given to President Paul Kruger by the Africans because of his ability to whistle and imitate birds, also meaning Mother of Melodies. According to the 2011 Census, Mamelodi has a population of 334 577+, and it has since increased tremendously. The economy and large investment in infrastructure by the government, has improved livelihoods of many people, attracting more and more people from various areas around Gauteng and other provinces, looking for jobs, economic opportunities etc.

This has led to the rapid development of informal settlements around Mamelodi, such as Stofel-Park, RDP, Mahube Valley etc, where most of the children stay and ferried by buses every day to attend school at Ndima Pimary and other schools in the area. The over-crowdedness at this school is unfathomable. Ndima Primary School is a government non-fee primary school, based in Mamelodi West township, in Tshwane, Gauteng Province. The school currently has a learner and staff complement of about 1221 people. This primary school services the Mamelodi West community and surround areas with primary education for the growing population in the community. 

Ndima Primary, is Quantile 3 – a ‘No-Fee’ school, currently with 1230 learners and approximately 30 teachers. About 791 of the learners are from the informal settlements. Parents are mostly unemployed and are not even able to pay the school project fund of less than $1 a month. The children eat at school, thanks to the government’s feeding scheme, that ensures that learners are fed on a daily basis, as to some, that is the only meal they have for the day.

United Way South Africa has been supporting the school for a while now, and in 2021, received a generous donation to erect extra ablutions, as the school was in a dire need for capacity. There were, even in the current day, way too many learners in the school, the ratio of about 1:60 (Teacher to Learners). It is seriously challenging for the teachers to ensure that all learners are properly taught. The over-crowdedness in the classrooms makes it difficult for the learners too. They share chairs and tables and others have no choice but to sit in the floor. It is a precarious situation that requires urgent interventions, as the Department of Basic Education, which declared has no budget, has approved for them to extend the classrooms and ablution facilities, as there is still ample space for much-needed development in the school yard. 

The teachers too, happens to work in a small ‘staff room’, with insufficient chairs, tables and cabinets. They too need extra ablution facilities for privacy and hygiene purposes. The school has administrative challenges as well, such as printing machines etc. United Way South Africa is committed to help this school. Through your support, we can help make much-needed difference!