WeeklySA_AdminPOTENTIAL: Bambanani app geared to create a better future for children through education…
By Sonti Maseko
In the world of rapid developing communication technology and new apps being launched practically every day, the launch of a cutting-edge Afrika Tikkun Bambanani app for early childhood learning (ECD) in Johannesburg was on many levels not an ordinary event.
It was, in the classical, philosophical sense and in ancient wisdom, a tikkun moment, an opportunity for a correction or re-set.
The event took place recently against a backdrop of the country covered under a veil of darkness – instead of bright city lights that sparkle in early evening, Thursday, at dusk, Joburg city was in darkness, literally, because of loadshedding. The mood hanging over residents was that of gloom and foreboding; hard times because of the knock-on effect a lack of electricity is having on jobs, services and many other aspects of life.
But in a conference room of the posh Houghton hotel, the mood was celebration and optimism among the 150 guests that the arrival of the Africa Tikkun Bambanani – ABT app to aid pre-school teachers was the game changer that would revolutionise South Africa’s future workforce and the economy’s trajectory.
Afrika Tikkun, a charity started as a response to community hardships in the 90s, believes in the potential of AT-Bambanani in these times to unleash the potential in its youngest citizens along the slogan; from cradle to careers.
Tikkun, a Hebrew word used in ancient wisdom and philosophy, relates to the circles in life, and cycles, be they in the soul of an individual or in the consciousness of a people where there’s a repeat or recurrence of a problem or circumstances that need to be changed and how, in order for progress or relief to happen, in the entity, there requires to be a recognition of the fault line in order to change course.
Tikkun as a word is enriched with meanings of healing, mending and moments opportune with transformative change.
Similarly, in the embrace of the AT Bambanani, there seemed to be a sense from Afrika Tikkun of having “been there before” with the current challenges faced by the country on the social front, politically and in the economy.
The timing and circumstances around the launch and the grave social and living conditions seemed like another tikkun moment and the ATB app presenting an opportunity for light – in darkness being over emphasised by load shedding.
Looking back in recent history, it was on the education front that the 1976 political unrest flared up when Black youths realised that the education they were being fed condemned them to a life of poverty as a redundant people.
In his address to the parents, educators, sponsors and supporters at the launch, Afrika Tikkun CEO Marc Lubner spoke of forging partnerships between affluent schools to partner or adopt with an aim of sponsoring ECD facilities in poor neighbourhoods to make the programme affordable.
“We can do something about this, we can change it,” Lubner said, opening the challenge to the audience, about introducing the Artificial-Intelligence-aided app and its potential to revolutionise education from the foundation phase.
“Don’t lose heart, don’t give up, this country has remarkable potential”, said Lubner as he invited the audience to join hands, in the Bambanani (joining hands) spirit to take the country to a new light.
The teaching app was enhanced with AI or artificial intelligence, which would unobtrusively be accessing and analysing the mental faculties of a pre-school child between the ages two to four, while engaged in class activities, whether drawing, playing with the puzzles, on computer or reading.
While they play, the app would be providing real assessments to support the teacher in understanding the pace of development of each child and determining timeous interventions where needed.
The Bambanani teaching aid, as a project, has been embraced enthusiastically by Afrika Tikkun, which intends to take the programme countrywide under the banner, “no child must be left behind”.
The state’s Early Childhood Education unit has been approached, along with the Department of Basic Education, an agreement has been signed endorsing this initiative.
Overall, the app that allows young children to develop their critical thinking and to reach their milestones through play. It ensures that age-appropriate milestones are reached through rigorous performance monitoring through games.
These include a wide variety of educational puzzles, story books, numeracy activities, problem solving games, literacy, shapes, tracing, counting, letter and number recognition.
This app ensures that no child is left behind by enabling stronger learners to work ahead and providing extra revision and repetition for weaker learners.
Afrika Tikkun Bambanani Assessment Centre (Data Free) Afrika Tikkun’s goal, through Bambanani Assessment Centre, is to improve and standardise the content at the country’s ECD centres by empowering practitioners to spend more time with the children.
This centre ensures that no child or teacher is left behind, tracking sheets and termly reports to monitor learner progression, focusing on critical developmental milestones, screening tools to red-flag learners that require intervention, and practitioner tracking and evaluating.
A state-of-the-art remote upload portal allows the centre to assist and observe learners and teachers, especially schools in remote areas. ATB’s online trainers assess and report on all activities and video tasks assigned to the practitioner for the week.
“The potential of millions of young children is lost due to our inability to provide families living in marginalised communities access to quality early childhood education programmes,”
Lubner said. He added that the vision was to uplift the lives of children in disadvantaged communities and ECD centres with the knowledge and resources needed to implement an effective curriculum, changing the trajectory of thousands of young beneficiaries of this programme.
Published on the 96th Edition
