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Unemployed youth could help overburdened teachers

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Dear MyPE

Unemployed youth, that are appropriately qualified in Maths, Science and Languages, could assist with a tutoring programme in the Eastern Cape, along the same lines as in the Western Cape.

These tutors would provide much needed assistance by helping schools battling with teacher shortages and overcrowded classrooms.

These youths could also provide valuable additional tutorage to learners in the Eastern Cape, thus improving on overall learner performance and reducing drop outs.

The Eastern Cape has an expanded unemployment rate of 45.6% and at the same time is battling with a shortage of Mathematics, Science and Language teachers and is plagued by learner drop-outs.

The Education Department is spending hundreds of millions of Rands each year on contracts to companies implementing its Learner Attainment and Improvement Strategy (LAIS) programme meant to improve the performance of underperforming learners.

In the Western Cape, the Year Beyond (YeBo) initiative invites matric learners and graduate volunteers with mathematics, technology and language skills to give a year of their time to tutor underperforming primary and high school learners full-time in Mass Opportunity Development Centres (MOD) around the province.

These former learners gain experience through the programme, while improving learner outcomes within schools.

Therefore, on Thursday 5 December 2019, I tabled a motion in the Provincial Legislature calling on the MEC of Education, Fundile Gade, and his department, to introduce a volunteer programme similar to the YeBo Programme in the Western Cape.

Such an initiative could be funded through the reprioritisation of a fraction of the hundreds of millions of Rands spent on LAIS and would assist the education department in addressing the challenges with Mathematics, Science and Languages, while also providing work experience for former learners.

The remaining funds from LAIS, could also be redirected to address infrastructure backlogs.

Regards

Yusuf Cassim

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Port Elizabethan

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