For the Durban staff of CS Education Solutions, a subsidiary of JSE-listed CS Holdings, the opportunity to give free training to a charity which itself offers training was an experience that "brought us back to earth," says CS Education Solutions Business Development consultant, Claire George. It all began when Pam Picken, director of Training and Resources in Early Education decided the organisation should look into computers As a non-profit, Section 18 A company, Tree aims at giving people in previously disadvantaged communities the skills to create environments which will provide sufficient stimulation for pre-school children.
Picken convinced a business associate of CS Holdings to donate PCs and networking equipment at cost to start Tree off on its quest to discover how information technology could further its aims. Once the equipment was installed, Tree`s staff needed to learn how to use it.
CS Holdings stepped in to help the helpers with an offer of a day of free training.
Tree decided to send the six staff members who had some PC experience in order to gain the most benefit of the course. The remaining seats were filled by staff of other early-education organisations - two from Hlangani Preschool Association at Hillcrest, one from the Centre for Community Development, and another from the Department of Education and Culture, Durban South Region.
Says CS Education Solutions` Claire George: "We were grateful for the opportunity to learn about the laudable work of these selfless people working to uplift the under-privileged.
"Working in the IT industry we rarely have to deal with the `have-nots.` Being exposed to Tree`s work through its employees brought us back to the real world while giving CS an opportunity to give something back to the community.
Says Tree`s Pam Picken: "The tragic but viciously destructive cycle of disadvantage repeats itself when poorly educated children become parents incapable of giving their children the basic pre-school education and stimulation required to achieve school readiness.
"Our work involves taking women from informal day-care centres and showing them how to enrich the activities of the children so the children gain skills which enable them to cope with formal education.
"Most of our 45 trainers have not been exposed to computers before," says Picken. "But we need to master and use information technology in our operation, to be more effective.
"Statistics show that the highest dropout rate in schools in South Africa is between Grade One and Grade 7. Forty percent of these early school dropouts do not attain basic numeracy and literacy.
"In KwaZulu-Natal, youth illiteracy stands at 69%. By providing a quality pre-school education there is less of a likelihood of children dropping out of school early."
Trainers go to very remote areas sometimes on a donkey to assist and train others to provide early education for children in remote areas. Tree is dependent on donations and sponsorships. The cost to trainees is less than a third of the actual cost of training them. To add to its income, Tree makes early education toys for sale.
Tree is the leading non-profit early education organisation in KZN. The five regional branches - in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Port Shepstone, Ladysmith and Empangeni - train about 3 000 women from as far as the Eastern Cape annually. This impacts on the lives of about 80 000 children a year as the women who are trained pass their training and skills onto their helpers in a basic train-the-trainer model.
"In the same way, our staff will now be able to pass their new computer skills on to other Tree staff," says Picken. Picken and her staff are looking forward to the day when their organisation becomes fully computerised with all branches linked via the Internet and with staff able to use the Internet for research and communication.
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