By Khanyisa Khenese
Khanya Maths and Science Club held its final session last Saturday, marking the end of 25 years of nurturing and fostering a love for numbers and science.
The session was lively and engaging. Grade 9 learners played interactive coding while receiving advice on choosing subjects, as they will be entering a senior phase next year.
The learners and volunteers were awarded certificates to celebrate their dedication and hard work in the club.
The school representatives who are part of the club are grade 8 and 9 learners from Nombulelo Secondary School, Ntsika Senior Secondary School, Khutliso Daniels Secondary School and Nathaniel Nyaluza Senior Secondary School.
Khanya Maths and Science Club was established in 2000, with the aim to help and engender a love for maths and science in grades 7, 8, 9, 10,11 and 12. The volunteers of the club taught the younger group curriculum-based maths and did fun-science such as hands-on electricity workshops while older groups focused on syllabus-related maths and science.
However, the club now concentrates on grade 8 and 9 learners.
“Because there are many intervention programs for grade 10 and 12 learners in Makhanda already and there’s nothing much for grades 8 and 9, so we have to prepare them for subject courses at the end of grade 9 and we want to improve their maths,” said coordinator of the club, Joyce Sewry.
Khanya and Maths Science Club is coordinated and run by Sewry, who is a lecturer in the Chemistry Department, with help from staff and volunteer students of the department. The club holds its meetings every Saturday morning from 9am to 11am at the Albany Museum. The lessons and workshops are presented by scientists and chemistry students.
According to the club, the number of learners studying maths and science is decreasing in the country. Sewry said South Africa is far below the norm compared to other countries and there is a need to improve that.
“We need to improve infrastructure, our health care, and for that we need maths and science. The biggest thing is to try to get more children to do well in maths and science because if they don’t get good grades, they won’t get access to universities.”
She added that another sustainable solution to the problem would be to get maths and science teachers in school.
Some learners said being part of the club has helped them improve their maths and science marks.
A grade 9 learner from Nombulelo Senior Secondary School, said the club helped her improve her marks, work with other learners, and overcome her fears. “The club volunteers explain everything clearly and in a way that we can easily understand. At school, we feel more pressured.”
A grade 8 learner said she joined the club to improve her science marks, because she did not do well in the first term this year. “Khanya maths and Science improved my science and especially maths, because there were sections in class that I didn’t understand but my tutor from the club helped me, I appreciate them.”
