iGugulethu is a Xhosa name meaning our pride; our treasure. This name best describes how we value and take pride in the girl child. This social learning platform is created for girl learners in schools in the Eastern Cape to make sure they are able to get academic support from tutors and teachers. The platform will also provide motivational support for girls, the culture of sisterhood will be cultivated through the social group whereby girls can freely interact on social issues and a social worker will be available to provide advice where needed.
The platform aims to promote a sense of belonging for those who might feel isolated or challenged academically. iGugulethu aims to be a ray of hope for an African girl child, by making sure that they stay motivated and reminding them that they are powerful beings who deserve all the good things that life has to offer. iGugulethu wants to bring together girls who are ready to take up space and grab all opportunities that come their way.
“For every little child, no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid”. Lupita Nyong’o
Social Challenges facing Girl Child
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the entire world. This has led to almost 90% of the world’s countries having to shut their schools in efforts to slow the transmission of COVID-19. Alongside school closures, governments are also imposing social distancing measures and restricting the movement of people, goods and services, leading to stalled economies. While this disruption to education and the expected reduction in global growth have far-reaching effects for all, their impact will be particularly detrimental to the most disadvantaged students and their families, especially in poorer countries. The educational consequences of COVID-19 will last beyond the period of school closures, disproportionately affecting marginalised girls. There is sufficient evidence that the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa has been hugely affected by high school dropouts.
Learners that are mostly absent at school are at risk of problems associated with drug and alcohol abuse, changes in personality, turn to crime to support expensive chemical dependence habits. The Girl child bears a greater negative cost with rises in sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and early marriage. The most concerning of them all is the fact that Distance learning solutions, whether low- or high-tech, often indirectly discriminate against girls due to power dynamics within families. And when schools do re-open, poorer children and girls are less likely to return, with increased dropout rates caused partly by fear, stigmatization and, in some cases, deliberate exclusion
Notable socioeconomic and cultural challenges that can be worsened by COVID 19 in the schooling life of a girl child, and of such, need to be investigated as to test the evidence towards mitigation; Cultural issues gender roles and power dynamics disfavouring girls in the family and community, the practise of ‘Ukuthwala’- forced marriages, pregnancy, sexual and reproductive healthcare related matters like contraception, abortion, demanding family roles for girls and caregiving expected roles for girls as against the diminishing effect of schooling and education, alcohol and substance abuse, violence, living with disability, type of household (child headed, foster homes, extended with large numbers of siblings, households headed by the grandmother/father, discrimination, bulling, being older than one’s classmates, repeating a grade.
iGugulethu Social Learning Platform Background
As Covid-19 forces 743 million girls out of school in 185 countries, the rising drop-out rates will disproportionately affect adolescent girls, as disease outbreaks affects girls and boys differently. This will only exacerbate gender gaps in education and lead to increased risk of sexual exploitation, early and unintended pregnancy, and child, early and forced marriages.
There have been initiatives and developments in terms of dropout mitigation programmes mainly from the Provincial government. Unfortunately, solutions implemented are not sustainable for schools due to the lack of technology incorporated solutions. The lack of innovative solutions results in many sectors in the Province, from Education, Health, Agriculture to manufacturing still lag behind in implementing ICT based solutions. The challenges facing the Eastern Cape Province are similar to many other rural areas in South Africa and Africa as a continent.
iGugulethu is a Learning Management Portal targeting the Girl Child in selected Amathole and OR Tambo District Municipalities schools within the Eastern Cape Province. The solution aims to provide social and technological skills to learners to motivate them to study. Leveraging our strong networks in industry, the proposed innovation solution will be a force to reckon with in tapping into digital technologies that harness the potential of combating the problem of dropout faced by schools in the province. We make use of social media platforms such as Facebook to broadcast podcasts focusing on educating and conscientizing girls on issues pertaining to domestic violence and health.
Key Stakeholders for the iGugulethu
- Peer Educators
- Tutors
- Motivational Speakers
- Social Media Platforms
- Technologies for encouraging Girl Child (24/7 Learning Management Platform)
- GBV Awareness
- Sanitary Towels Provision
iGugulethu Services
This platform allows Girl child learners to learn, chat and share educational content online. Currently, only Mathematics and Physical Science subjects targeting Grade 10 and 11 have been considered. The other services within the platform is the social aspect which affects Girl child such as teenage pregnancy, pressure to drop out of school and GBV.
The iGugulethu Social Learning Platform has been created for two core reasons, and these are:
- To share and access academic content with peers online. Learners can pose questions on the platform, learners can also have real-time discussions online with peers and tutors, and learners can also watch or download academic video and voice clips of academic content. The aim is to provide simplified explanations of content. [Share & access academic content through this academic based social networking platform in an appealing way to learners, social media (tik tok, memes)]
- To share and access motivational, female hygiene & Gender Based Violence (GBV) content with peers online. The aim of this content is to motivate learners to stay in school, offer psychological support and general life skills to better equip the girl child on challenges they face or likely to face in life. [Instill confidence, give motivation, develop critical thinking for a black girl child].