The Non-Government Organisation selected much specialise in Early Child Development. They are responsible for identifying the site for the new Edutainer, and thus their specialist knowledge covers an understanding of which schools have the best teacher training and potential to make the project a success.
There is a huge demand for Edutainers in schools across the country. But it is essential that the chosen school has the drive, capacity and skills to exploit the possibilities which these new classrooms provide. Only schools with outstanding performance despite the odds, or outstanding potential in terms of staff and community, are considered.
The Bright Kid Foundation oversees the entire process. From the fitting of the container, to working with the NGO and school, we make sure that every project is guaranteed to excel.
Of course, none of what we do would be possible without the donor. Whether a Corporate Social Investment venture which sponsors one or multiple containers, or through the accumulation of private donations, the projects cannot be undertaken without generous community support. For a list of some of our donors as well as the Edutainers currently changing lives in South Africa, please see below.
Bright Kid Foundation has been awarded a MANTAG CERTIFICATE 2009/M56. MANTAG is part of AGREMENT, a South African national body which establishes and monitors building standards. This certificate means that Edutainers can be permanently used as pre-schools as their high standards of construction, insulation, ventilation and pre-school facilities (like the cupboards and shelving) meet or exceed the required standards.
The Bright Kid Foundation has carefully designed the Edutainer to be sustainable, enabling competent teachers to attract fee-paying parents so they can enroll enough children to generate sufficient funds to pay salaries and feed the children.
How the Bright Kid Foundation achieves sustainability:
We work closely with established early-childhood development NGO's
Edutainers are only allocated to competent trained teachers
Edutainers are well equipped and function as excellent pre-schools. Equipment includes:
books
educational toys
furniture
This high-quality learning environment attracts fee-paying parents
It is vital for Corporate Social Investment (CSI) to be sustainable. A social investment yields a stream of social benefits which accrue to the individuals directly involved (the pupils and teachers in the Edutainer) and to the community at large.
An Edutainer is a sizeable investment, and donors are not expected to provide additional funds over time to keep it operating. The teacher or the community running the Edutainer need to generate the funds to pay salaries, feed the children, supply educational equipment, and maintain the Edutainer. Teachers and communities are carefully vetted before they receive Edutainers, to ensure that they will be able to make effective use of this significant, free capital asset. Edutainers can be registered as pre-schools, so the school will receive some government grants in addition to the modest school fees they receive. It is very rare that the parents of all children attending will be able to pay fees as there is usually high unemployment in the poor areas where Edutainers are placed. However, parents practice ‘uBuntu; a form of social responsibility to the community. Fee paying parents will allow a certain number of unemployed parents to send their children to the Edutainer pre-school without paying fees.
There are always a number of ‘garage crèches’ in the poor communities receiving Edutainers. These usually consist of ‘shack’ schools without trained teachers and without adequate sanitation or educational toys. The dramatic delivery of the Edutainer, which is fully decorated on the outside and delivered by a crane truck, is often attended by local dignitaries and the whole community and this delivery provides superb publicity to the Edutainer, encouraging parents to enroll their children in the Edutainer school. .They will send their children to the well equipped Edutainer pre-school in preference to a shack school and the school fees generated help make the Edutainer sustainable.
In spite of careful planning on the part of the Donor and Bright Kid Foundation, social development investment in poorer communities always involves some degree of risk. Teachers may fall ill, communities may move, and employment creating factories may leave the school area. If the community is re-located, we are able to move the Edutainer with the community. However, in some cases this is not possible. In a recent survey of the Edutainers we placed, we found that approximately 3.5% of the units placed were not functioning properly as pre-schools. These were all Edutainers placed before 2003. In these cases, we remove the container, and completely re-furbish and re-paint it, to make it equivalent to a new Edutainer. By the time that this process is completed, the costs are the same as our normal finishing of used containers. Once the re-finishing is complete, we are able to re-cycle the newly finished fully equipped container. Containers which have been removed from their original location are marked with an “R” after the location place name in the list of Edutainers delivered.
Edutainers have impacted very positively on the lives of children, teachers, parents and communities. Donors and teachers have given extremely favourable evaluations of the Edutainer Project.
Donor, NGO and Department of Education Endorsements
'Good ideas are simple.... Stonecracker (an European donor organization working closely with Bright Kid Foundation) was struck by the elegant simplicity of the Edutainer logic : in order to improve a society, you'll have to improve Education standards, improving education standards starts with providing basic schooling infrastructure, basic schooling infrastructure starts with a adequate schooling facilities. The Edutainer provides these basic facilities at relatively low prices, short lead-times and required movability. The last element is of great importance, Edutainers are moveable and can be placed at any site where a short or long term need develops. Once the need has ceased, the Edutainer can be deployed elsewhere. Simple and sound logic. Since 2008 Stonecracker has funded 21 Edutainers in the South African West Cape. Being closely involved with Bright Kid Foundation in site selection, placing and follow-up checks on usage and upkeep, our overall conclusion is that the Edutainer is an efficient concept with excellent leverage on several levels.' Irma Borrias, Stonecracker Foundation
'Receiving the Edutainers has changed the lives of both Julia and Mollie significantly. Both these teachers have had more than a 50% increase in the number of children who enrolled into their pre-schools for 2011. They will now be able to run their pre-schools as proper income earning concerns. The quality of education will also be enhanced significantly as the Edutainers are superbly equipped and designed to function as one or even two class rooms. The lockable shelf space on the one side and the educational toys and equipment included are also great for having a fully functional classroom facility from the minute the Edutainer is delivered.' Lucas Scheepers, Community Outreach Program Trust
‘I would like to motivate and encourage the approval of the ECD Edutainers, to ensure that Early Childhood Education is enhanced, accessible and the acceptable quality standards are attained to improve the health and well being of our little children in Gauteng.' Venessa Mentor, Director Early Childhood Development Institute, Gauteng Department of Education, 11 May 2011
'We recently visited one of our most successful Edutainers, at Delft in the Cape townships which is a prime example of what happens when the whole process works properly. A very dedicated teacher, operating from a tiny site (the container barely squeezes in).... It feeds on being an evident success, parents want their children to go there and pay the fees.' Richard Carss, The Zoë Carss Educational Trust Annual Report
‘Edutainers are an imaginative cost-effective response to the lack of educating facilities in South Africa for children aged approximately 2 to 8 years old.’ Eric Atmore, CEO Centre for Early Childhood Development
ABI Edutainers in Masakhane Magaliesburg '..the placement of these Edutainers has provided a lot of scope for the development and empowerment of the entire community' Sonja van der Vyver Director Village Power Community Development
'The positive contribution of the Edutainer program regarding the standard and quality of preschool education was confirmed by the many positive comments made by respondents. It was overwhelmingly expressed that the Edutainers have impacted very positively on the lives of children, teachers, parents and communities, as one teacher succinctly noted: ”We need a place to teach but the classrooms assigned were not constructed. The Edutainer stepped in where our need was the greatest. It also meets more than just our needs - it meets the community's needs, the parent's needs, and most importantly, the children's needs”' Jaclyn Murray, Centre for Early Childhood Deveopment, Edutainer Evaluation
'At every visit a proud member of the parent body, or even the general community, will arrive and delight in the acknowledgement of their efforts to further strengthen the preschool experience they are providing their children. The Edutainer serving as a catalyst, to lift this early childhood community out of despair and energizing them with hope as they continue to progress, tiny step by tiny step, forward.' Fioni Murray, Khululeka Early Childhood Development, Didimana Village, Eastern Cape
In the words of Maria Robinson “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending”, and the two Edutainers located in Hackney and Didimana respectively have most certainly provided these communities with the opportunity to make a new ending for their children. An ending, where teaching and learning can begin in a well-resourced, attractive and stimulating environment. Fioni Murray, Khululeka Early Childhood Development
'Until now the group ( providing a safe place for children to play while their parents worked) has struggled with a lack of space, and meetings and workshops often had to be held amidst the hubbub of chattering children at play. Consequently, the Foundation jumped at the opportunity of having an Edutainer that would provide a dedicated and purpose built space for pre-school learners. As Mama Nomhlobo, one of the group members, commented, “Now we’ve got our own space and the children will be more free”'. Lucy O’Keeffe on Nedbank Edutainer delivered to the remote rural town of Kalkeni, Angus Gilles Foundation
'I am very happy with the Edutainer as it provides me with a professional classroom to teach from and earn a salary for myself and my teachers from the school fees.’ Meriam Petla, Tswelopepe Day Care Centre.
‘The Edutainer is very spacious and I am happy with it.’ Rachel Thwala, Eyetu.
‘I find the Edutainer very user-friendly for me, my teachers and the children. It is wonderful.’ Selina Malepa, Ithuthuba Preschool.
'I am proud to have a classroom such as an Edutainer.’ Joyce Maila. Mafube Day Care.
‘I am very happy to have been awarded an Edutainer to provide a school for the children and teachers." Coronation Mbowani, Stepping Stone Day Care.
Click on a marker to find out the name of location, the primary donors, as well as the number of Edutainers in that location (indicated by number in brackets).
I find the Edutainer very user-friendly for me, my teachers and the children. It is wonderful."
