EDUCATIONAL UPLIFTMENT "BRIDGING THE GAP" FOR XHOSA SPEAKING CHILDREN

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PROJECT INFORMATION:

1. Name of the Project:

EDUCATIONAL UPLIFTMENT “BRIDGING THE GAP”
FOR XHOSA SPEAKING CHILDREN

Project History (where/how did the project start if it is already implemented, or
part of a larger project)

2. History of organisation:

The Children’s Home originated during the Great Flu of 1918 when a substantial
number of parents died and children were orphaned. This lead to the establishment of
an orphanage at Ugie in the far North-Eastern Cape, as a community based and
community driven, non-subsidised welfare organisation. The children’s Home was
officially established in 1922 when Government admitted the first children to the
orphanage. The M.T.R. Smit Children’s Haven, named after its founder, relocated to
Port Elizabeth in 1987 in an effort to improve its capacity to render services to the
community. This materialised after lengthy discussions between government,
community leaders, church denominations and the Department of Education. The
Home is currently in the process of broadening the scope of its service with the total
community in mind. The Home is of the firm conviction that it can deliver a
substantial contribution to the general well-being of the community.

3. Goals and Aims of Organisation:

The M.T.R. Smit Children’s Haven provides accommodation for 100 statutory
children between the ages of 3-18 years. This is a multi-racial Haven. The M.T.R.
Smit Children’s Haven also aims at providing accommodation for the mentally
disabled child who has been removed from parental care in terms of the Child Care
Act.

 The Children’s Haven aims at re-establishing relations between the children and
    their natural parents by encouraging the maintaining of contact
   As the family is regarded as the basic unit of society, the goal is also to facilitate
    the provision of appropriate services to both the child and the family system.
   The Haven aims to provide quality services and excellence, transparency and
    accountability. The programmes presented at the children’s Haven promote non
    discrimination, tolerance, mutual respect, diversity and inclusion of all groups of
    society.
   The Haven also aims at meeting the special needs of children that would ensure the
    development of children physically, mentally, emotionally and socially.
   The Haven ensures that conditions are created for the optimum development of all
    children in order to constitute a social investment in a healthy and able nation.
   Regardless of the length of stay, or the statutory reason for admission, each child is
    afforded an appropriate programme of care and therapeutic development. Each

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   child is also afforded personal privacy and is given the opportunity to participate in
   sport, cultural and recreational activities.

4. The aim of this envisaged / partially active project:

TO PRESENT ENRICHMENT AND BRIDGING PROGRAMMES TO
CHILDREN.

5. Background:

A need was identified to do individual psychometric tests on the Xhosa speaking
children at the MTR Smit Children’s Haven due to their poor scholastic
achievements. A great percentage of the children failed at school and others had poor
results. The psychologists at the University of Port Elizabeth Psychology Clinic did
the SAAIS battery test on the children at the Children’s Haven. The test results were
as follows:

5.1 CATEGORY                                         AMOUNT OF CHILDREN

1. Above average                                     1 child
2. Average                                           3 children
3. Under average and Borderline                      20 children
4. Mild retardation                                  12 children
TOTAL:                                               36 CHILDREN

 Of the 36 children, 32 children’s results suggested serious learning problems.
 19 of the 20 children’s results suggested either verbal learning disabilities or verbal
  learning problems.
 The results indicated that most of the children has abilities that are below average.
 The children with below average abilities do not have instructional programmes
  that are tailored to their specific needs, abilities and rates.

There are grave concerns over the Governments decision on exclusions, because they
do not take into account children with special education needs who are included in
mainstream schools. Insufficient attention has been paid to the need for adequate
support mechanism to be in place to ensure that children’s needs can be met by
mainstream schools. Children with Special Education Needs that are placed in
mainstream schools, have unmet needs and teachers are unable to manage their
challenging behaviour.       OUR XHOSA SPEAKING CHILDREN ARE
EXTREMELY CONFUSED AND LACK INTENSIVE SUPPORT FROM A
XHOSA SPEAKING TEACHER.

6. Reasons for poor educational results:

 Children’s educational needs were never met. They lacked the self adjusting
  system that should have been established from birth by loving, caring parents.
 Children never had the opportunity to pursue their own interests. Children learn
  with greater retention when they are interested in what they are doing.
 Because of the children’s particular needs, they have difficulty in acquiring the
  basic skills.

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 Children did not experience a family unit as their primary force for socialisation.
  Basic skills are developed at home, primarily during the first six years of life.
 Children were exposed to inappropriate (negative) socialisation. This involved
  conformity, ridicule bullying and defiant behaviour.
 Children lack positive social skills, such as kindness, patience, respect, generosity
  as well as moral values as a result of negative influence in the social context in
  which the child lived.

7. Problems Experienced:

 The children from the MTR Smit Children’s Haven that have been tested,
  suggested that their level of mastery of the basic academic subjects is markedly
  lower than these of the rest of their class. THEY ARE ALSO MUCH OLDER
  THAN OTHER CHILDREN IN THEIR CLASSES.
 The children are academically retarded or learning disabled.
 The children lack positive motivation and experience feelings of anxiety, conflict
  or hostility.
 The children manifest a high expectancy of failure which negatively impact the
  amount of effort the child will expend, and therefore, quality of their performance.
  The children behave as if they do not care about school work.
 Some children experience difficulty mastering academic work, because their level
  of anxiety interferes with sustained concentration.
 The schools curriculum are not constructed to help the child with learning
  difficulties.
 Schools often reinforce already existing negative self concepts and feelings of
  inadequacy and frustration.

8. Purpose of Project:

To develop basic cognitive competencies in Xhosa speaking children of the MTR
Smit Children’s Haven through remedial education and assistance programmes
rendered by Xhosa teacher

8.1 Aims & Objectives of Project:

 To improve the educational performance of children at the MTR Smit Children’s
  Haven and to ameliorate the condition of the socio economically disadvantaged so
  that these children can develop competences and motivations that would enable
  them to share more fully in our complex society and to reap a fairer share of the
  social rewards.
 To enrich the experiences of the children and to teach them problem solving skills
  through remedial education.
 To design a program to improve children’s skills, language development and
  increased self confidence.
 To prevent the risk of retardation through early intervention into the lives of the
  seriously disadvantaged children with a direct, intensive and comprehensive
  educational effort.

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 To promote stronger motivation towards achievement and to foster the
  development of behaviours and characteristics correlated with achievements, such
  as persistence interest in school materials.
 To prevent the phenomenon of progressive retardation or cumulative deficit with
  increasing age as in the case of our children.
 To ensure that the schools need to provide an atmosphere that makes learning a
  rewarding experience, that is conclusive to the development of self confidence, self
  respect and a sense of cultural identity.
 Tailor the children’s instructional program to their needs, abilities and rates.
 Work to their potential and increase the probability of educational success and
  personal satisfaction derived from the learning experience.
 Alleviate children “falling between the cracks”.
 Enable children to become more secure and confident in their academic abilities
  and skills.
 Provide children with an education aligned with their personal abilities.
 Provide children with a more personalised instructional setting.
 Identify outside resources help in the community, including private tutors etc.
 Incorporate a study program designed to assist our children’s educational needs.

9. What do we want to achieve?

 To meet each child’s individual needs addressed in their own language of
  understanding
 To assist children in acquiring the basic skills.
 To improve the children’s level of mastery of the basic academic subjects.
 To decrease failures.

10. Project infrastructure:

What is required to manage the project?

 A Xhosa teacher must be employed to guide the Xhosa children with education
  needs.

11. Commitment of Organisation to sustain this Project:

This is a long term goal of the Children’s Haven. Education will be an ongoing
process and we will accommodate more Xhosa children in the future.

12. Community Involvement:

The Children’s Haven battle to get volunteers to assist us with educational
programmes. On the long term, we would like to establish a venue for “bridging
education” and will allow people from the community to benefit from this project.
Our immediate aim however, is to help the Xhosa children from the MTR Smit
Children’s Haven first.

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13. Project implementation:

We need to implement this project immediately as it is a dire need. As soon as funds
become available, we will implement the project.

      Action Steps          Responsible Party                    Target Date
1. Appointment of Xhosa Principal & Board                 As soon as funds are
Teacher                                                   available

14. Proposed Budget:

1. Appointment of Teacher
TOTAL

15. Funding:

The Children’s Haven are in the process of approaching different funders as this is a
major project with big financial implications. No funds have been received thus far.

16. Commitment of organisation to sustain this projects after the 12 month
period:

Once this person is employed it will remain a lifelong project and become a greater
need in the future.