Cape Town – An English teacher has set out to raise money for data bundles for her pupils so they can access learning resources from home during lockdown.
Many schools across South Africa have adopted online learning, and Rhodes High School teacher Jade Damonse said pupils across various grades were from single-parent households or those run by a grandparent.
Using crowd-funding platform BackaBuddy, Damonse has so far raised more than R3 000 of her R5 000 target.
The money raised via the campaign will be split among pupils in need from grades 9 to 12.
Damonse said she had observed that the number of pupils attending her online classes recently had dwindled and she became concerned.
“I created a Facebook page, where I do live videos, annotating their poems and navigating them through their setworks. This was well received, but as we got to the middle of April, I saw numbers dropping.
"My kids became less interactive and initially I thought the lockdown situation had just got the best of them. I called parents and they responded that buying data at this point was just not a possibility.”
Damonse said internet challenges became apparent to her when she posted an audio lesson, and one of the pupils asked if she could rather send it on the class’s WhatsApp group instead as she was unable to access the internet during the day.
“I could not understand this as she was able to send me a message. I then messaged her privately and asked her to explain, and she mentioned that they could afford a deal that offers data only between 12am and 5am, so during that time she would access the resources online and complete the day’s work.
"Her mom also purchases WhatsApp bundles so that she is able to receive her work from her other groups during the day.”
A Grade 12 parent had told her that the last time her son had data was on April 1.
“I created the BackaBuddycampaign, had to wait about a week and half to get vetted and last week I finally got the email saying the campaign had been approved.
"I am extremely grateful for the funds which have already been donated, ” said Damonse.