Edupeg is a unique educational concept which creates opportunities for children to be actively engaged in their own learning. As a registered Section 21, not for profit organisation, Edupeg invests in primary school education is some of the poorest and least developed communities in South Africa.

The focus at Edupeg has always been to add value to the provincial and national educational endeavour, through facilitating improved curriculum delivery, by increasing material resources, enhancing intellectual capacity and promoting the confidence and self esteem of both teachers and pupils. Our goal is to achieve improved quality of teaching in the classroom, which will lead to improved learner performance.

Edupeg is a registered tax exempt Public Benefit Organisation. It is governed by a board of directors and is audited annually. All of the components of the Edupeg programme are printed / manufactured locally, thus creating jobs and promoting affordability.

Teachers need time and practice to implement new methodologies, and thus we work with teachers in their classrooms, enhancing and strengthening their skills and capacity and increasing their material resources, with the goal of supporting them to become agents of future positive educational change. Our trainers seek to create and promote a mutually supportive and enabling environment where schools can eventually drive their own development. We work in clusters of schools, promoting effective and concentrated participation which, with support, can lead to greater community participation and growth.

The Edupeg activities promote written work, enhance the understanding of mathematical concepts and promote systematic recording, incorporating the attained answer. The bright, attractive and colourful pictures promote language discussion, vocabulary enrichment and opportunities for extended written exercises, which involve more complex sentences and higher cognitive skills. In these ways, Edupeg seeks to support the cultivation of a strong work ethic, where children work responsibly, using their initiative, to ultimately become responsible democratic citizens.

Our development work is built on relationships. Only with trust, transparency and honesty can the process of transformation begin to take place. Edupeg can be used in a classroom situation, as a teaching resource to promote the active participation of pupils in their own learning. The varied abilities of pupils can be catered for simultaneously and children can work at tasks appropriate for their level of skill and capacity. Teacher training forms an essential component of the Edupeg programme.

The printed workbook material is available in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, IsiZulu, SeSotho and SePedi. Edupeg contains no cultural or gender bias.

Impact on pupils:
- Pupils of varying levels of ability can be catered for simultaneously.
- Learning takes on an aspect of fun and enjoyment and levels of anxiety and feelings of inadequacy are diminished, through providing positive learning experiences.
- The pace and content of the lesson is not dictated by the slowest pupils.
- Fine motor control is developed.
- Essential perceptual development activities form part of the programme.
- Engagement with Edupeg activities promotes pupil involvement, concentration, critical cognitive development and problem solving strategies.
- Working independently promotes self reliance and the ability for children to work without constant teacher intervention.
- The opportunities provided for interactive group work promote dialogue, verbal communication, vocabulary enrichment, sentence construction, tolerance and essential listening skills.
- Pupils are encouraged to think, to determine answers, and to record these neatly, accurately and systematically.

Impact on teachers:
Possibly the greatest challenge is to assist teachers to embrace new teaching and learning techniques and to translate what they have learned into classroom practice. Our training and support model focuses on creating a mutually supportive and enabling environment where schools can eventually drive their own development.
- Edupeg activities assist teachers to promote reasoning, observation and deduction.
- Assessment of pupils is simplified as teachers can see and evaluate what children can do.
- The multiple pictures, rubrics, and graphical representations assist teachers to support children who require visual stimulation to learn.
- Teachers who have limited knowledge/experience of a subject/concept can utilise the activities to promote their own understanding.
- The self-corrective aspect of the programme allows for increased learning opportunities for differentiated pupil groups.
- With children absorbed in their tasks, discipline problems diminish.
- Pupils of varying levels of ability can be catered for simultaneously.

Edupeg helps teachers to develop their skills and abilities. Edupeg develops teachers who:
- can communicate and who develop competence in this sphere.
- are confident, as their skills are enhanced.
- can work with others and who find value in this interaction.
- are more competent as they have quality resource material to assist them in teaching.
- are more organised as the Teacher Resource Book provides practical advice and guidance.
- are more motivated as they see the effect of their teaching efforts, displaying results in their learners.
- are stimulated and challenged by the educational content of the workbooks, and the Teachers Resource Book.

Impact on the environment:
Edupeg materials are durable and do not need annual replacement. Utilizing the workbooks within the provided plastic protective sleeve ensures a teaching and learning resource for many years. The multiple colourful and attractive activities provide detail and interest and preclude the necessity to photocopy, thus saving paper (and cartridge ink) and creating a huge cost saving with an environmentally positive impact.

Impact on the donor:
Partnering in this initiative creates an opportunity for a meaningful social investment opportunity to actively participate in educational recovery in the primary school sector. Such participation would enhance the awareness of the communities in which we work of the sensitivity of the donors to the plight of vulnerable pupils and teachers. It would also fulfil many of the CSI policy criteria of a responsible donor.

Operates in: All of South Africa
Established in: October 1998

Non-Profit Organisation Number:
Public Benefit Organisation Number: 130002420
Section 21 Company Number: 1998/025276/08
Trust Number:

Contact person: Liz Swersky
Phone: 021 465 9604
Fax: 021 461 5179
Email:

Website: www.edupeg.co.za

Physical address: Unit 61, Roeland Square, Roeland Street, Cape Town
Postal address: Unit 61, Roeland Square, Roeland Street, Cape Town, 8001