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The Greater Edendale Muslim Society (GEMS) Program

A contribution towards social reform and rural education? Dr. Ghamiet Aysen

ABSTRACT The program aims to assist in building the commitment of concerned individuals in the townships and the philanthropist who want to make a difference in society by educating the children at the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Phase in the rural areas. Most communities in the South African rural areas are unable to access education thereby depriving children of learning in the ECD Phase. In efforts to overcome this, GEMS has implemented a program to provide education in the ECD phase in centers of excellence. This study aims to assess whether parents and teachers believe that the GEMS program is providing suitable education and contributing to social reformation. The study is undertaken in 10 rural areas in Edendale (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) and comprises of a sample of 13 teachers and 293 parents drawn using the cluster sampling technique. Data was collected using a self-developed questionnaire whose psychometric properties were statistically assessed and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicate positive teacher and parent perceptions of the program and its contribution to education and society by bridging the education divide and enhancing the moral development of the community.

1. INTRODUCTION

Many children from the previously disadvantage communities of South Africa are not being educated and this phenomenon can impact negatively on future generations. Statistic’s SA (2010) showed that 61% of children in South Africa in 2009 lived below the poverty line (with a per capita income below R522 per month (which is equivalent to $33 USD per month). Closely linked to this income poverty indicator is unemployment and that 36% of children reside in households where no adults are employed. Gardiner (2008) mentioned in 2008 that the devastating acknowledgement of the effects of poverty were as follows:

Children in the 0-4 age group constitute almost 10% of the population but only 15% of this number has access to ECD services.

Between 58% and 70% of rural children live below the poverty line.

In rural communities 75% of children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition.

It was further stated in the same article that an estimated 33 000 Grade R teachers were needed nationally by 2010 and that in 2008 there were only 7000 such teachers. Ramadan (2004) said that if there is one area where a basic respect for the universal principles of Islam requires vigilance at every moment, it is the social sphere. Ramadan (2004) further affirmed that at every level, that of religious ritual and also the broader plane of daily life, Islam is the bearer of a teaching entirely directed toward the

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collective and social dimension, to the extent that one could say that there is no true religious practice without a personal investment in the human community; the serenity of solitude before the Creator can exist only if it is nourished daily by relations with fellow humans. Ramadan (2009) said that there must be respect for diversity, human solidarity, and cultural artistic creativity that should be taught in schools and that Teachers must combine traditional methods with more innovative approaches in order to take up the challenges of contemporary times. Evans and Schamberg (2009) stated that living in poverty result in chronically elevated physiological stress, which in turn affects working memory. Working memory is essential to language comprehension, reading and problem solving. It is a critical prerequisite for long-term storage of information. The longer the period of childhood poverty, the higher the stress load is during childhood, the greater the long-term effect on the working memory. Ansari (2002) further stated that a community can make itself immune to outside influences only when it is definitely superior and more virile than those other communities that are there in the environment. But if the community is docile, if the community has no guidance to guide its life, it is bankrupt in respect of its character and its ideals, then it is as the saying goes “The devil occupies the vacant home”. Ansari (2002) further states that a community, which has no positive idealism and is not struggling to achieve the goals of that idealism, is a passive community. In 2012 it was reported that, only 35.7% of children in the birth to four years cohort attended an ECD center. Enrolment statistics’ are much lower in the Rural than in the urban areas (Statistics South Africa, 2012). Engle (2007) said that despite evidence that after the age of three accessing formal ECD programs becomes important for developing social skills and learning readiness and that only 52% of three to four year olds have access to out-of-home care. There is further evidence to demonstrate that attendance at preschool has a positive impact on reading and mathematics in Grade 4 (Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (2011). Mannak (2009) confirmed that South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world today because the legacy of Apartheid engendered social and economic inequalities premised on race, gender and social class. Ansari (2002) further confirms that Muslims in South Africa are living in a western-orientated country where the Muslims are a minority and living under a non-Muslim majority. The DG Murray Trust (2013) indicated that investment in ECD has far more benefits than any other form of human capital investment. Dawes and Biersteker (2008) said that the Department of Social Development is responsible for registering and monitoring the centers but local social workers have many tasks and regulation of ECD centers are low on the list. In addition, social workers tend to be overworked and do not necessarily receive training on the principles and importance of early childhood education. It is difficult to comprehend that such a situation exists albeit that South Africa has

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the highest rates of Public Investment in the education world. It is reported by Education in South Africa, (2016) that about 7% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 20% of total expenditure is what the South African Government spends on education than any other sector. Government spending on basic education during 2015/16 is estimated at R203 468 billion which was about $20.3 billion USD. Ramadan (2002) stated that Zakat and its management require that a real philosophy of social action be worked out, with a strategy, condition and priorities. Zakat is aimed at giving the poor and needy but is clearly aimed at giving them the means to escape from their economic dependence. Evans and English (2002) report that exposure to one risk factor generally has a negligible impact on children, while exposure to two or more risks has a cumulative adverse psychological impact. They further state that the environment of poverty is characterized by exposure to cumulative, adverse, physical and social stressors. The housing is noisier, more crowded and of lower quality. People living in poverty experience elevated levels of family turmoil, greater child-family separation and higher levels of violence. Ramadan (2002) confirmed that amongst the seven basic Rights of Islam is, the right to education. Lebusa and Xaba (2007) said that there were many historically disadvantaged schools that performed well under challenging circumstances, especially with regard to teaching and learning resources and they found that there were indeed strong prospects for fostering entrepreneurial customs at these schools. Ansari (2002) confirmed that South African Muslims are faced with the problem of readjustment to the environment and how to propagate Islam to the Modern Mind. Ramadan (2009) said that leadership itself is changing and it is becoming more feminine and one can observe new ways of approaching problems of education, youth and marriage or family relations. It is very obvious from the above statements that there are problems in the ECD phase in South Africa.

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

In 2009 the Western Cape Department of Social Development done an Audit of Early Childhood Development and some of their findings are detailed in Table 1 below:

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TABLE 1 (Findings on Early Childhood Development)

Challenge Empirical Findings

Lack of parenting support

The major challenge in the provisioning of ECD services in South Africa is that services are directed at children with minimal involvement of parents. As a result, parents lack the skills and resources to provide ECD services to their children while in the home.

Poor quality of ECD services

Although the coverage of the ECD services has increased the quality remains poor. Poor quality services are strongly evident in poverty-stricken communities. As a result, inequality persists as children coming from poor families remain trapped in the poverty cycle.

Poor organizational and financial management within the ECD centers

ECD centers many of which receive a state subsidy are poorly managed both from an organizational and financial management perspective.

Insufficient state monitoring of ECD services

The lack of human and financial resources means that the Department of Social Development (DSD) cannot adequately monitor the quality of services, organizational or financial management in subsidized centers.

Biersteker, L. (2012) Early childhood services: Increasing access to benefit the most vulnerable children. South African Child Gauge: 2012: P32 In a survey sponsored by First National Bank in 2015 and carried out by Slivester Hwenha, Tshikulu Social Investments, some of the recommendations confronting all the challenges are as follows:

Increase access to and improving the quality of ECD services to benefit all children in a manner that will continue to guide policy development and implementation.

Corporate donors to focus on encouraging innovative models that can respond to the needs of families, children and communities.

Ensure that people who have the responsibility to mould and prepare children for the future are properly and adequately trained.

ECD teachers need coaching and mentorship.

Inadequate infrastructure exposes children to poor sanitation and security. Supporting ECD infrastructure development is crucial in enabling children in the most remote and rural areas to access formal ECD services.

Poor health and nutrition in children affect their growth and development and thus health and nutrition interventions will make a lasting impact to the underprivileged in the rural areas (Sliverster Hwenha, Tshikulu Social Investments, 2016)

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The Researcher who worked in these rural areas as an Engineering Services Manager for the Department of Health became aware of these facts mentioned above and he initiated GEMS. The strategy was to address the imbalances of the past and the current state of affairs of persistent inequalities in the disadvantage communities.

3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study was to assess whether the teachers and the parents of the children believe that the GEMS program is providing suitable education in the ECD phase and contributing to social reformation in the rural areas of South Africa.

4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The research objectives of the study is to determine the following:

Teacher’s perception of education and the environment.

Teacher’s perception on excellence, ownership and progression.

Teacher’s perception on self-development and community development.

Parent’s perception on education and the learning of their child.

Parent’s perception of accessibility and affordability for their child.

Parent’s perception of social interaction

5. SCOPE OF STUDY

In 2008 the researcher started the GEMS project in the rural area of Edendale a township in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The project was perceived after reading and personally interacting with the community over many years. Essentially the aim of being involved was to empower the Entrepreneurs who ultimately became ECD teacher’s from the Edendale Township with knowledge and skills to run their own business at the same time educating the learners. Most importantly, the intention is to have a holistic approach by coordinating all the activities of all the crèches organized from a central office so there is consistency in the methodology and the children become the main beneficiaries of such activities. The difference in approach in this project is having an office with an Administrator to oversee these crèches and the staff to ensure that there is structure and accountability of the crèches affiliated to GEMS. The teachers who participated in this project had no formal training of business and no formal training for educating ECD Learners in centers of excellence. The reasons the teachers were interviewed was to determine if they benefited financially, emotionally, intellectually, and that their skills and proficiency have been enhanced whilst with the GEMS programme. The parents of the children, the majority of whom are unemployed and not educated were also interviewed to get a sense on whether their children benefitted from the ECD training. The parents were interviewed one at a time when they conveyed their children to the crèches or when they collected them in the afternoon. The

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majority of the parents were illiterate so the teachers had to translate for them and had to fill in the questionnaires for them. The involvement in the project took place over an eight-year period from 2008 to 2015. It involved the researcher and GEMS trustees. The researcher has a PhD in Business Administration and the trustees are qualified teachers. Since it is impossible to collect all data on a subject and explore every facet of a subject, all research is narrow in scope and subject to limitations.

6. LITERATURE REVIEW GEMS have tried to play a meaningful role in assisting the previously disadvantaged as best as it can. GEMS saw the need to step in and make a contribution to improving the lot of the people in Edendale in South Africa. It is in this situation that all the efforts of GEMS have been directed at improving the lives of people in any way, however small and in every possible aspect. Particular attention has been given to children in the ECD phase. GEMS set out to support the total development and the empowering of communities by engaging in sustainable planning in order to improve the quality of life by introducing and maintaining a culture of basic learning and education to meet the development challenges of a new South Africa. The GEMS structure is as depicted in Figure 1 below. Figure 1 GEMS Structure

Self Generated (2016)

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The Teachers and the Assistants (Helpers) refer to Figure 1 above As depicted in Figure 1 above, GEMS is a bottom up approach programme. The start of every crèche begins with an Entrepreneur who realizes the need and sees an opportunity. The Entrepreneur together with the Community leaders and in conjunction with GEMS determines the need for the crèches. The Entrepreneurs who are mostly uneducated and unemployed women, who identify these crèches, have no formal training in the ECD sector. Seventy percent of the crèches recognized by the entrepreneurs emanate from Mud Huts in the rural Areas of Edendale. Once the crèche owner meets the stringent requirements, they affiliate to GEMS on a yearly basis. It has been a feature of the program that these Entrepreneurs have been given the necessary training in the Montessori methods and by the Islamic Educational Organization of South Africa (IEOSA), by attending regular scheduled classes by professional staff. The Entrepreneurs obtain appropriate qualifications are qualified and become Teachers and they can offer quality education to the community from their premises or rented accommodation. Every teacher has an Assistant and these Assistants are also educated by GEMS and eventually the Assistant opens her own crèche and so the cycle continues. Teachers can apply for Government assistance and GEMS help the teachers in this regard but this process is very time consuming.

GEMS Coordinators refer to Figure 1 above

The Role of the Coordinators are many and varied. Basically the Coordinators visit the crèches daily and ensure that the Learners are well fed, that they are safe in a clean environment and that quality education is carried out daily. The coordinators will filter the relevant information to the Administrator weekly in writing and hand the reports into the office personally. These daily results are discussed monthly with the GEMS Trustees so that key issues can be addressed immediately ensuring a follow through of all undertakings.

GEMS Administrator refer to Figure 1 above

The Administrator carries out the short-range and long-term plans of GEMS. For the Administrator to succeed in implementing these plans, she must understand the how, when and whom of the plan. Besides planning, the Administrator provides efficiency throughout the organization. The Administrator is also responsible for leading the individuals within the organization to accomplish a common set of goals which includes the delegation of authority, responsibility and control to the coordinators. The Administrator assures that GEMS is compliant in all forms and complies with all GEMS protocols, policies and procedures and that they are adhered to. She is also responsible for the finances and preparing the financials for the Auditors. In this way GEMS is audited yearly and hence GEMS is transparent in their day-to-day activities. In short, the Administrator is responsible for running GEMS with the support of GEMS trustees and Coordinators.

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The role of the Community Leaders, Parents and NGO’s refer to Figure 1 above

The teachers, community leaders, parents and NGO’s together with the GEMS trustees must constantly communicate with each other. A positive feature of the program is the input by Islamic Educational Organization of South Africa (IEOSA) who lectures to the GEMS teachers once a week at no cost. Fourteen teachers from IEOSA do the assessment of the GEMS Teachers and the children every quarter to ensure that the accredited syllabus GEMS have in place is implemented. The syllabus encompasses the basic principles of Islam. Meetings are held each month with the GEMS staff to discuss all aspects of GEMS. The regular meeting of the GEMS teachers displays unity, team spirit, confidence, motivates them to achieve, and builds a strong community presence.

GEMS - Non-Profit Organization (NPO) refer to Figure 1 above GEMS is a registered Non-Profit Organization (NPO) and fulfills all the requirements applicable to the South African law. There is a Board of Trustees and 80% of the Board members including The Chairperson and Treasurer are directly represented by the Community of Edendale. GEMS trustees are responsible for raising funds because they get no financial assistance from Government to support the organization. GEMS pay the teachers and their assistant a stipend every month to supplement their income and they assist in feeding the children a balance meal twice a day. GEMS trustees ensures that the teachers are continually motivated, regularly exposed to conferences, excursions and social events where all staff and the family gather and interact and enjoy each other’s company. GEMS trustees are always seeking innovative methods to stimulate the minds of the children such as “Wak-co-ball’ (this is a sports and physical management program), fun days and outings. The approach is well rounded.

Islamic classes (Madrassas) GEMS also ensures that the children who have progressed to Primary School and Secondary School attend additional classes in the afternoon at the crèches where they are taught by the GEMS staff Islamic studies. There is a programme in place in which GEMS is trying to initiate additional classes for Math’s and Physics for Grade 10 -12. Parents of the children are taught both basic literacy and are educated about Islam in these crèches on a Sunday morning. Regular meetings with parents and the community are held. Each quarter a gathering of all the teacher’s assemble at a crèche and a Zikr (religious Islamic prayer) programme is held. All these activities verify the notion that the GEMS crèches become centers of excellence in the rural areas. GEMS is linked with quality education and the community automatically associate themselves and the children with these crèches.

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Government initiative The challenge is also to Government and NGO’s to chart a way forward by establishing centers of excellence and uniting existing crèches in the rural areas and utilize the GEMS model to have the disadvantaged majority access to quality ECD education. The Government initiative model should be as depicted in Figure 2 below: Figure 2 . Government Organogram.

Self Generated (2016) As depicted in Figure 2, the Government model is similar to the GEMS model Figure1. Basically the government should establish offices in each rural area with qualified and competent staff and they should unite existing crèches, assist in startup crèches by empowering the local community and supervise all the crèches in the area. There are many existing crèches scattered in various areas throughout South Africa. Government and NGO’s must unite these Institutions under one banner in a specific area so there is unity and that the crèches are following government policies, procedures and maintaining protocol. It is a simple and inexpensive model and can be implemented within months. The Government officials actions must be such that the poorest of the poor benefit.

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Building Communities in the rural areas The Ward Councilors or appointed representatives of the communities in the rural areas should take the Leadership role and build communities as depicted in Figure 3 below: Figure 3

Self Generated (2016) As depicted in Figure 3, the Leadership in the communities must take ownership by firstly establishing crèches within their areas. Where crèches exist they must be united under a single Institution such as GEMS, a mosque or NGO, but they must not lose their independence. These crèches then become centers of excellence and all the communities’ needs and activities are centered around these crèches or similar centers of excellence. Planning and matters relating to the everyday life within the community should be discussed regularly in these centers. Youth activities must also be conducted in these centers because accessibility to alternate amenities for the youth is not easily available in the rural areas. The leadership of the communities should emerge from these centers because of the uniting factor of the teacher and parent. Once the children leave the crèches they should be well groomed in ECD phase and this education will ensure that they continue excelling in

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their youth and beyond. Once the youth have graduated from Secondary school or University they should have equipped themselves in life and they should be able to plough back their skills, finance and support to the community. This cycle will continue. This model is a bottom up approach as depicted in Figure 3. The purpose of the GEMS program is to assist in educating the children in the ECD phase in the rural areas by giving them quality education and in this way the community associates Muslims with quality. To propagate Islam from the crèches is therefore accepted and in fact welcomed. More often than not it is the children who spread the word of Islam to their parents by their actions and what they are taught in the crèches.

7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN

7.1 Research Design The validity of the questionnaire given to parents was assessed using Factor Analysis. A principal component analysis was used to extract initial factors and an iterated principal factor analysis was performed using SPSS with an Orthogonal Varimax Rotation. Only items with loadings >0.5 were considered to be significant. Furthermore, when items loaded significantly on more than one factor, only that with the highest value was selected. In terms of the dimensions of the study, four factors with latent roots greater than unity were extracted from the factor loading matrix for the parent’s questionnaire Factor 1: Parent’s perceptions of education and learning of their child, Factor 2: Parent’s perceptions of social interaction as a result of the programme, Factor 3: Parent’s perceptions of accessibility and affordability of education for their child, and Factor 4: Parent’s perceptions of their child’s development. The reliability of the questionnaire for parents was determined using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha. The overall reliability of the questionnaire is 0.958, thereby indicating a very high level of internal consistency of the items and hence, a high degree of reliability. The reliability of the dimensions were also computed separately and are: Parent’s perceptions of education and learning of their child (α = 0.902), Parent’s perceptions of accessibility and affordability of education for their child (α = 0.828), Parent’s perceptions of social interaction as a result of the programme (α = 0.889) and parent’s perceptions of their child’s development (α = 0.860) thereby reflecting a very high level of inter-item consistency for each dimension. Due to the small sample size for the teacher’s questionnaire (n = 13), the validity and reliability could not be computed. Community based research was used which has it roots in applied research and its outcome directed with benefits to the communities. The contribution of this form of research lies in integrating theory with practice and creative production with the challenge of enhancing active citizenship (Berman, 2011).

7.2 Target Population

The target population of this research comprised of 13 teachers from 13 crèches and all 13 responded. The target population for the parents were 320 and 293 parents of the children responded which represented 90% of the target population.

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7.3 Selection Sampling Data was analysed using descriptive (Means, 95% confidence interval, variance, standard deviation, minimum and maximum) and inferential statistics (correlation). Data was collected using self-developed questionnaires. Two sets of questionnaires were administered during the project, one for the teacher’s and the other for the parents, using a 1-5 point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The teacher’s perceptions were obtained to determine if they benefited financially, emotionally, intellectually, and if they believed that their skills and proficiency have been enhanced whilst with the GEMS programme. The teacher’s questionnaire therefore comprised of 15 items that measured three dimensions, namely, teacher’s perceptions of education and the environment (items 1–5), teacher’s perceptions of excellence, ownership and progression (items 6–10) and teacher’s perceptions of self-development and community development (items 11–15).

7.4 Questionnaire design The parent’s questionnaire comprised of 20 items which measured four dimensions, namely, parent’s perceptions of education and learning of their child (items 1-5), parent’s perceptions of accessibility and affordability of education for their child (6-10), parent’s perceptions of social interaction as a result of the programme (items 11-15) and, parent’s perceptions of their child’s development (items 16-20). The teacher’s completed the questionnaire during a training session held in January 2016 in the GEMS office. The parent’s completed the questionnaire one at a time when they conveyed their children to the crèches or when they collected them in the afternoon. The majority of the parent’s were illiterate so the teachers had to translate and capture their responses on the questionnaire. All the teacher’s are bilingual and interpreted for the parent’s in the presence of the assistants and other parent’s. The parent’s of the children, the majority of whom are unemployed and not educated were also given questionnaires to determine whether they felt that their children benefitted from the ECD training and whether the program improved the quality of their life and those of their children. 7.5 Ethical Measures All the participants were informed about the nature and aim of the research and all completed informed consent forms. The respondents were assured that their personal information would be treated as confidential and that they could withdraw from the research at any time. The participants gave their permission that the research findings could be published.

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8. ANALYSIS OF DATA The perceptions of teachers of the GEMS programme was assessed by asking participants to respond to various dimensions using a 1 to 5 point Likert scale. The results were processed using descriptive statistics (Table 2).

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics: Teacher’s perceptions of the GEMS programme

Dimension Mean 95% Confidence Interval

Variance Standard Deviation

Min. Max.

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Education and the environment

5

-

-

-

-

5

5

Excellence, ownership and progression

5

-

-

-

-

5

5

Self-development and community development

4.954

4.902

5.007

0.008

0.088

4.80

5

Table 2 indicates that teachers are totally satisfied with the ability of the GEMS programme to educate them and enhance the environment. In this regard, teachers believed that:

They are able to educate themselves by being part of the GEMS programme.

They are able to advance in their career by being part of the GEMS programme.

They enjoy the GEMS programme because it provides them with challenging tasks that assists their community.

They enjoy being part of a team striving to achieve the objectives of an organisation dedicated to service humanity.

They are able to utilize the resources/anti-waste from their environment within the community for teaching.

Teachers also reflected complete satisfaction with the GEMS programme in bringing about excellence and enabling ownership and progression. In this regard, teachers were convinced that:

They are afforded opportunities through the GEMS programme to progress in their career, for example, from a helper to teacher to crèche owner to coordinator.

The GEMS programme has enhanced them and given them entrepreneurial skills and business acumen.

The GEMS programme has impacted positively on their family and personal life.

They have gained leadership skills which they can use to assist their community.

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They have progressed in their lives by attending different courses in the educational field and these certificates/diplomas enhance their curriculum vitae.

Teachers also reflected satisfaction with the GEMS programme in bringing about self-development and community development. In this regard, teachers were convinced that:

They are inspired to be socially responsible and to assist with the needs of their community.

The GEMS programme has made them self-sufficient and independent.

Through the GEMS programme, they have learnt to identify the ills and shortcomings within their community and assist where they can.

They are motivated and supported by the GEMS project to deal with and face any social, cultural and educational challenges that they encounter in their community.

Although positive, not all teachers were convinced that they have been given the opportunity to have their own business, that is, a crèche. This may be attributed to the fact that some teacher’s are still progressing through the ranks from teacher to crèche owner to coordinator. The perceptions of parents of the GEMS programme was assessed by asking participants to respond to various dimensions using a 1 to 5 point Likert scale. The results were processed using descriptive statistics (Table 3).

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics: Parent’s perceptions of the GEMS programme

Dimension Mean 95% Confidence Interval

Variance Standard Deviation

Min. Max.

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Education and learning of the child

4.954

4.933

4.975

0.031

0.177

4

5

Accessibility and affordability of education for the children

4.933

4.904

4.962

0.063

0.252

3

5

Social interaction as a result of the programme

4.954

4.934

4.975

0.031

0.177

4

5

The Child’s development

4.959

4.939

4.979

0.030

0.174

4

5

Table 3 reflects that parents viewed the GEMS programme extremely positively and, in descending mean value, were convinced that the project enhanced the child’s development (Mean = 4.959), facilitated education and learning of the child (Mean = 4.954) and improved their social interaction (Mean = 4.954) and lastly, ensured accessibility and affordability of education for the children (Mean = 4.954).

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Whilst positive views of the GEMS programme were held by parents, in order to identify areas of improvement, item analyses were conducted to see were total agreement was not achieved which are reflected per dimension as follows:

Education and learning of the child: There is room for the GEMS project to make a further difference in the Early Childhood Development phase of the child in the community.

Accessibility and affordability of education for the children: There is room for making the GEMS programme to be more cost-effective.

Social interaction as a result of the programme: There is room for the GEMS programme to enable parents to unite and share their concerns, problems, challenges and information about their child with other parents.

The Child’s development: There is room for further assessments to be done with children to enhance their educational progress.

Hypothesis 1 Parent’s perceptions of various aspects of the GEMS programme (education and learning of the child, accessibility and affordability of education for the children, social interaction as a result of the programme, the child’s development) significantly intercorrelate with each other (Table 4).

Table 4

Intercorration Parent’s perceptions of the GEMS Programme: Intercorrelations

amongst the sub-dimensions

Dimension r/p

Education and learning of the child

Accessibility and affordability of education for the children

Social interaction as a result of the progamme

The Child’s development

Education and learning of the child

r

1

Accessibility and affordability of education for the children

r p

0.891 0.000*

1

Social interaction as a result of the progamme

r p

0.939 0.000*

0.867 0.000*

1

The Child’s development

r p

0.799 0.000*

0.789 0.000*

0.847 0.000*

1

* p < 0.01 Table 4 reflects that parent’s perceptions of various aspects of the GEMS programme (education and learning of the child, accessibility and affordability of education for the children, social interaction as a result of the programme, the child’s development) significantly intercorrelate with each other at the 1%

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level of significance. Hence, hypothesis 1 may be accepted. The relationships between the sub-dimensions are also very strong. In section A of the questionnaire the aspects of life in the rural areas

concerning the parent’s are addressed and their responses were as follows.

Figure 4. Frequency of parent’s responses by age group

Figure 4 reflects the Median = Mode = 2 = 45% = age group: 26 - 35

Figure 5 Frequency of parent’s responses by gender

Figure 5 reflects the Median = Mode = 2 = 92% = female

18%

45%

27%

7%3%

0%

16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56 and over Unkown

Male8%

female92%

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Figure 6. Frequency of parent’s responses by race

Figure 6 Reflects the Median = Mode = 1 = 99% = Black

Figure 7 Frequency of parent’s responses by Qualification

Figure 7 reflects the Median = Mode = 2 = 67% = Secondary (up to Matric)

Black99%

White0%Asian

0%

Coloured1%

28%

67%

3% 1%1% 0%

0%

Primary (up to standard 5) Secondary (up to matric)

NQF - 4 certificate NQF - 5 certificate

NQF - 6 certificate NQF - 7 certificate

NQF - 8 certificate

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Figure 8. Frequency of parent’s responses by Employment status

Figure 8 reflects the Median = Mode = 1 = 70% = Unemployed Figure 9. Frequency of parent’s responses by Income

Figure 9 reflects the Median = Mode = 1 = 71% = R0 – R500

Unemployed70%

Employed29%

Employer0%

Entrepreneur1%

71%

7%

11%

8%

2%1%

R0-R500 R600-R800 R900-R1500 R1600-R3000 R3100-R5000 R5100 and above

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Section A of the questionnaire deals with the aspects of life in the rural areas

concerning the teacher’s and their responses are as follows.

Figure 10. Frequency of teacher’s responses by age group

Figure 10 reflects the Median = Mode = 2 = 62% = age group: 26 - 35

Figure 11. Frequency of teacher’s responses by gender

Figure 11 reflects the Median = Mode = 2 = 92% = female

15%

62%

15%

0%8%

16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56 and over

Male8%

Female92%

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Figure 12. Frequency of teacher’s responses by race

Figure 12 reflects the Median = Mode = 1 = 100% = Black

Figure 13. Frequency of teacher’s responses by Qualification

Figure 13 reflects the Median 2= 46% = Secondary (up to Matric) Figure 13 further reflects the Mode = 4 = 46% = NQF - 5 certificate

100%

0%0% 0%

Black White Asian Coloured

Primary (up to standard 5)

8%

Secondary (up to matric)

46%

NQF - 4 certificate0%

NQF - 5 certificate46%

NQF - 6 certificate0%

NQF - 7 certificate

0%

NQF - 8 certificate0%

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Figure 14. Frequency of teacher’s responses by Employment status

Figure 14 reflects the Median = Mode = 4 = 77% = Entrepreneur

Figure 15. Frequency of teacher’s responses by Income

Figure 15 reflects the Median = Mode = 3 = 84% = R900 – R1500

Unemployed0%

Employed23%

Employer0%

Entrepreneur77%

R0-R5000%

R600-R8008%

R900-R150084%

R1600-R30008%

R3100-R50000%

R5100 and above0%

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Discussions of the findings.

The findings of the study reflect positive teacher and parent perceptions of the GEMS program and its contribution to education and society by bridging the education divide and enhancing the moral development of the community. Evidently, parents believe that the GEMS programme contributes effectively to the education and learning of the child, enhances accessibility and affordability of education for the children in the Edendale area (South Africa) and promotes their development and social interaction. The strong intercorrelation amongst the sub-dimensions (education and learning of the child, accessibility and affordability of education for the children, social interaction as a result of the programme, the child’s development) indicate that any further improvement in any of the sub-dimensions will have a rippling and snowballing effect on remaining dimensions thereby enhancing the education, learning, social interaction and development of the children in the Edendale community (South Africa). Pretorius (2014) mentioned that the large majority of South African children are from low socio-economic backgrounds and live in households with adults who have very low literacy levels. Typically, children from these homes are seldom exposed to books or regular literacy practices such as storybook reading. Hence, the recommendations emanating from this study become pivotal to educational development and in bridging the educational divide.

9. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 Recommendations

Zakaat should be given to assist programmes like GEMS so that Islam is taken to the rural areas and started from the very young.

The Leaders of the communities and Religious leaders should be encouraged and supported to start these crèches and create centers of learning and excellence. Islam can spread from these centers.

The centers of excellence should be utilized as multi purpose institutions to hold community meetings where the leadership is established and maintained and where matters concerning the communities are discussed and debated.

The leaders of the community should guide the youth from these centers of excellence so that they are allowed to dream about their future.

When the youth have graduated from university or found their niche in society the leaders of the community should encourage the youth to give back to society and the crèches they graduated from.

More Muslims especially the locals must give more of their time and spend their money in the part of the Almighty by being visible in the rural areas assisting and participating in all activities especially in the crèches.

The community leaders or NGO’s should monitor the progress of the children throughout their schooling career and performing Learners must be assisted with bursaries when they obtain their Matric Certificate.

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The need to empower the community to become Entrepreneurs is high on the Government’s plans and rural community leaders, NGO’s should seek innovative methods to support this challenge and support ECD.

What is needed is encouragement, coherence and support so this program can be replicated throughout South Africa and the rest of Africa so that the “Zakaat Receivers can become Zakaat Givers.”

There exists the possibility of property that could eventually be left to Awqaf to manage in the rural areas. The more institutions that are left to Awqaf and NGO’s to manage the more the needy benefit.

In order to allow continuity and commitment, Government and NGO’S must ensure that the Teachers are continually motivated, regularly exposed to conferences, excursions and the communication is done daily. The approach must be well coordinated.

The Ministry of Education and NGOs needs to channel funds wisely with a short term and long term goal. Inferior education and access to ECD training is problematic and this affects the child in their development. One cannot address these problems in the latter years of a child’s schooling career and university.

There are indeed strong prospects for fostering entrepreneurial customs at these schools. It is very obvious from this program that there are elements of innovativeness and entrepreneurship at these crèches and this must be harnessed and encouraged by the community leaders, NGO’s and Government.

Community leaders must inspire the unification of crèches in an area. It is not only the government’s responsibility to do this but all of society.

Strategies have to be both short- and long-term and there has to be congruence between ends and means to ensure successful outcomes. Societies have to learn new habits of mind in daily social interaction.

The establishment of crèches coordinated from a central base such a mosque be encouraged and supported by NGO’s. 9.2 Conclusion

A conscious effort to invest in the rural areas has the potential of good returns, which will impact positively on communities. Empowerment can only result from a holistic process. The implementation of meaningful intervention strategies with a potential for a multiplier effect would go a long way to restoring hope and trust in the rural communities and further augment the learners for ECD.

Based on the premise that to have an educated nation equipped with quality education from the ECD phase one needs to have Teachers who are motivated, educated, progressive and gratified entrepreneurs. Equally true Parents want the best education for their child which is accessible, affordable, and which ensures their child’s development in a vibrant community. The GEMS program is one way of bridging this divide contributing to the social reformation.

There is no doubt that the GEMS program has contributed immensely to the well-being and intellectual as well as social development of the

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children under GEMS care. This is a model that can, and should be replicated on as wide a scale as possible. These young children will have a decided advantage when they get to primary school and even high school.

No economy can grow by excluding any part of its people. An economy that is not growing cannot integrate all of its citizens in a meaningful way. Hence, the challenge is for Government and NGO’s to chart a way forward by establishing centers of excellence and uniting existing crèches in the rural areas and utilize the GEMS program to have the disadvantage majority access to quality ECD education.

10. DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Continuous research should be done to find innovative methods to educate the youth in the rural areas. Educating the masses in the ECD phase must be encouraged which will ensure that the moral development of the community on several fronts will emerge. The GEMS program is one way of bridging this divide contributing to the social reformation.

Freedom alone will not bring equality. The erosion of the culture of learning has reached worrying proportions. The whole foundation of schooling is under threat. Research should be done to assess how equality through education can to be achieved through creative equal opportunity programs and how Islam can play a meaningful role.

The GEMS centers of excellence should be replicated throughout South Africa. Community Leaders must be in the forefront advocating and supporting these kinds of activities where children are given quality education in a safe environment. Continuous research should be done to assess its effectiveness and identifying areas of improvement in order to optimize learning and development in the ECD phase.

Research should be done to find alternate and constructive ways to spread the message of Islam in the rural areas.

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