In 2020, South Africa was already in lockdown after an increase in the number of Corona
virus cases. The lockdown meant that schools and the university would be closed, and our
program would have to adjust in its operation and move to an online platform. Vulindlela
initially has whatsapp groups for parents, learners and tutors, and these groups were used for
the operation of the program. We continued sharing of educational resources on these
WHatsapp groups so that the learners in the program continue with learning even though
schools were closed. Tutors in the program each started a Whatsapp group for their specific
subjects where they shared notes and activities. In these subject groups, the tutors work with
their learners to assist with homework that was given by their teachers. Some of the learners
were not given any work by their teachers before schools closed, so the tutors really played a
crucial role in ensuring that these learners have work for revision and that they are not left
behind.
A challenge in the program was access to more educational resources like past exam papers
and books for the learners. In addition, access to the internet for the tutors and the learners
has been a real issue. In response to this challenge, a successful collaboration was started
with the journalism department through Rod Amner’s 3 rd year journalism student group. In
this collaboration, the journalism students managed to collect soft copies of study materials
from Grades 10-12, and these materials were saved on SD memory cards and delivered to the
learners in the program so that they can have access to study materials without having to use
data. These populate 32 GB of SD memory cards with past papers, notes, books that are
prescribed at school and books for leisure reading. So far we have delivered the cards to
Grade 12 learners and are currently working on delivery to the Grade 10 and 11 homes. The
Grade 12 learners have reported that they have been using the material in the cards for
preparation of tests and exams.
This year, the 3rd year Journalism students are mentored by 4th year students (Dylan and
Tristan) who also participated in the course the previous year as 3 rd year students. These
current 3rd year students focus on Education Journalism in Vulindlela, where they help with
interviewing Grade 10-12 learners and teachers about the study information they would like
to have in the memory cards. These students then download this information onto the cards
and with the help of the Vulindlela facilitator, distribute the cards to the Vulindlela learners.
In the second semester, the 3 rd year students were mentored by Dylan and Tristan in various
aspects, which are as follows:
1. Vulindlela Social media (Providing short stories based on the activities of Vulindlela
in term 3 and 4, Vulindlela Website) – Mentor Tristan
Resources: VC education initiative report, Vulindlela term 2 report, RUCE Facebook
2. SD Card impact Articles, downloading and collation of study materials for SD cards,
Tertiary applications support, NBT application support – Mentor Dylan
Resources: SD card drive, Photovoices, SD card pamphlets
It has been such an enriching experience working with Dylan and Tristan, both as students in
the Vulindlela service learning course, as well as mentors in the course. I have learnt so much
from their diligence and willingness to go the extra mile in the course. They have truly
adapted well the principles of Community Engagement, and I believe that they will both
make great journalists.
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