Mentees are supported through 9 contact sessions with their Rhodes University student volunteer mentors. The mentoring sessions happen in phases; the first on ‘personal planning and goal-setting’, the second phase is on ‘summarising and learning skills’. The programme is concluded with sessions on some career guidance and planning beyond their schooling career. The mentoring sessions are complimented by contact sessions with GADRA Education, who visits the schools, to facilitate the preparation for each phase of the programme.
What skills and resources were you able to draw from the community for this project?
• Partnership with GADRA Education, a local NGO whose dual concern is to “mitigate the effects of the current education crisis [in Grahamstown, South Africa] and to attack causes of the crisis.” • Mentors are drawn from a large student volunteer pool at Rhodes University. • The Rhodes University Education department assists with training and developing course material for an accredited mentoring short course. • Willingness from schools to support mentees and accept the programme as part of our common goal to develop schools of excellence in our township.
The challenges
Nine Tenths Mentoring Programme aims to address the unequal/variable quality of education provided at various schools, and address some of the societal contexts that limit a learner’s academic performance.
Addressing the challenges
Each year, the number of bachelor passes (and pupils eligible to apply to higher education) substantially increases. From 11 eligible local applicants in 2011 to over 50 (37 of whom were from this programme) in 2018. The number of strong passes (diploma or bachelor passes) has increased at each school. Nombulelo rose from 35 strong passes in June 2017 to 48 in June 2018 in a cohort of 56 learners. Ntsika has a cohort of 84 learners. Their strong passes for this cohort was 37 in June 2017 and has now bumped up to 54. Mary Waters has moved from 17 strong passes at the end of Grade 11 to 25 strong passes after June exams in their small cohort of 14 pupils. Overall Grahamstown has improved its standing in the province as the best performing city (with regards to the matric pass rate).
The achievements
• 2016: 31 out of 51 Bachelor passes in the township schools came from learners who were Nine Tenths mentees. • 2016: Ntsika Secondary School achieved a 87% pass rate; this is the first time in Grahamstown that a township school has out-performed an ex Model-C school (PJ Olivier Hoerskool). • An accredited mentoring short course has been established for mentors through Rhodes University. • 2016: 11 learners got accepted into Rhodes University. • 2017: 18 learners applied to Rhodes University.
Johannesburg, South Africa