Empower parents to elevate the pass rate

LAST year, as most of us were trying to make sense of a global pandemic, I came across a chain message on social media. The author was clearly upset by the lack of investment that black parents in townships are making toward their children’s education.

He or she lamented how, unlike other communities who came up with measures like digital learning, black parents allowed their children to loiter in the streets when schools were closed during lockdown.

This struck a chord in me, as I remembered how my mother had made sacrifices, and in the absence of formal employment, made sure that we were fed and attended school through her vegetable business. I grew up running my own vegetable business which helped me pay my way through varsity and kept me afloat until I graduated with a degree in actuarial science. The actuarial skills that I have acquired have helped me develop the Wesolve4x Model = Maths + Parents – Hunger based on insurance principles which entail identifying the risk and providing a sustainable solution to assist underserved communities.

My mother’s investment might have not been through paying for extra lessons or exposing me to online learning tools. Because to be quite honest, our economic status did not allow us such luxuries.

What I know is that parents in my mother’s shoes, do the best they can to keep their children in school. Instead of demonising parents, we should find creative ways to get them involved in their children’s academics. My belief is that empowering the parent to play a more active role in schoolwork makes all the difference.

While the South African Schools Act makes provision for parental involvement, we are still a long way from making sure that parental involvement goes beyond attending school meetings and buying uniforms. According to a recent study by academic Paul Nwati Munje, there are existing gaps between policy and practice, especially in disadvantaged communities. Munje writes that schools need to initiate strategies that will create a friendlier environment for parental involvement which will benefit the pupil.

In SA historical socioeconomic issues such as poverty have made it increasingly difficult for parents, especially in rural and township communities, to participate in their children's school lives in a meaningful way. My experiences growing up through the township school system has inspired me to start a tutoring programme that helps kids between Grade 4 and 12 with mathematics with grocery benefits for R250 monthly. But I was also inspired to start mathematics workshops for parents, instil them with the confidence to participate in their children’s homework. This is what I call hopeful maths, hope in one equation, We Solve 4x Model = Maths + Parents – Hunger=to success.

The turnout that we have received so far, shows that parents also need to be guided and capacitated, not judged. I believe that if we come up with more initiatives that rope the parents into the classroom, we will have a better chance at increasing the pass rate. The initiative also includes an option for an affordable grocery benefit, ensuring that we tackle academics and poverty at the same time.

My mother was not able to get as far as I got academically, and I do not recall her helping me with my maths homework in high school. But knowing the determined person she is, I know she would have been first in line to sign up for an opportunity to upskill herself with homework supervision skills. About 92% of the people who attend our mathematics master class are mothers. These mathematics moms do not mind sitting in a classroom and joining the movement to elevate the pass rate.