Despite lockdown, the Growsmart Educational Programme has continued to offer learners an interactive learning experience through easily accessible platforms.
The programme, launched by Growthpoint Properties in 2009, has worked in collaboration with the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo education departments to improve learning in under-performing schools.
It aims to advance the learning experiences of learners in Grade 4, 5 and 6 through curriculum-based fun and interactive educational competitions in literacy, mathematics, science, story-writing and poetry, debating and entrepreneurship.
Growsmart has found new and innovative ways to reach learners through online learning lessons shared on social media and WhatsApp during lockdown. Extending its reach in the Western Cape even further, a new competition format, The Growsmart Live and On-Air Radio Competition, with Ryan O’Connor and Heart FM, was launched in June.
The competition takes place weekdays, with two new schools competing every day over 20 weeks to answer as many literacy and mathematics questions as possible. The main prize of R20 000 will go to the education of the winning learner, but no learner leaves the competition empty-handed.
The online lessons have enjoyed more than 200 000 combined views on social media since March and the radio competition has reached more than 600 000 households in the Western Cape since its launch on 1 June.
“We are thrilled to reach so many eager learners during a time where their education has been so severely impacted, while still managing to keep the programme fun and interactive,” says Jewel Harris, general manager at Growthpoint Properties and founder of Growsmart.
“The pandemic has put us in a situation where we need to be innovative and it is exciting to overcome the challenges and still have an impact on these young, bright minds.”
V All educational resources are available at no cost at www.growsmart.org.za to ensure the programme remains relevant, keeping learners connected from their homes. Also visit the website or send a WhatsApp message to 082 222 1049 to enter the competition.
