Many children in South Africa attend schools without computers and go back to homes without computers, access to the internet, or live in households without spare funds to spend on data. With computer skills forming a crucial part of education and becoming almost a mandatory workplace skill, this lack of technology access and opportunity to learn computers, further disadvantages these children. Covid-19 has further compounded these education challenges by disrupting in-class education leaving those, with no opportunity to transition to on-line learning, to fall further behind in their education.
I Learn to Live – Ngifundela Ukuphila (www.ilearntolive.co.za), and NPO focusing on providing education opportunities to school children and youth in rural Zululand has been partnering with Izulu Orphan Projects since 2014 to operate the IOP computer center. In 2021 they started a Kids Robotics Club, giving these children an opportunity to not only learn more about computers but also start to learn coding and other electronic skills.
One of the children settles down to work at the IOP computer centre
Siyamthanda dreams of perhaps being an Optometrist, but is loving learning and developing her computer skills.
Two of the learners look on as Nkosi Sibiya, one of the instructors, shows the coding needed to trigger the fire alarm in the demonstration model.
Pondering why his code has not yet turned the light on.
It does not take long before these young hands start to fly confidently across a keyboard.