It all adds up for Xhosa pupils

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Published Aug 1, 2014

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Cape Town - Xhosa-speaking pupils can now receive the entire school mathematics syllabus in their home language after more than 950 Khan Academy online video lessons were translated from English into Xhosa.

The brainchild of two graduates from the UCT, Adrian Cox and Pratik Pokharel, it took almost nine months to complete the 950 videos.

They formed a non-profit organisation called ClickMaths in 2012, during their undergraduate year.

The school maths syllabus is available for free on the internet, in Xhosa, including lessons and teachers’ modules.

ClickMaths isiXhosa incorporates Khan Academy video lessons, interactive assessments and advanced analytics and is ideal for pupils in and outside the classroom to study at their own pace.

With the assistance of private backers the project escalated using a group of 20 Xhosa-speaking students studying high-level mathematics to translate the online video lessons from English for primary and secondary pupils.

The translations are based on content from Khan Academy, a world-class, freely available platform that allows students to customise their own learning experience.

ClickMaths director and former project manager Monique Baars says the translations changed the lives of students who worked on the project.

“All Xhosa-speaking students could empathise with the language issue and wanted to be involved, she said.

Cape Argus

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