Brands on-board to help SA families build bursaries for school

As any parent knows, when it comes to affording quality education for our children, we need all the help we can get.  Escalating school fees, continual costs of uniforms and many extras make educating our children a significant, long-term family expense.   Quality education features high on the UN’s list of 17 sustainable development goals, and South Africa is a signatory to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which recognises the vital role that education plays in improving lives.

There’s probably no more universally common drive than the one parents have to set their child on the path to a better world.  We know that education is a key to unlock opportunity and enable our children to grow into productive, fulfilled citizens.  But can we afford it?  According to Stats SA one in five qualified learners are currently unable to attend school or a tertiary institution due to lack of funds; and two thirds of pupils do not pay school fees, putting an additional strain on public funding.

Each child spends around 200 days a year at school.  Based on former Model C school fees, a South African school day typically costs R122.50, and a 200-day school year is R24 500.00 for one child.  As Millennials rise to become the majority parenting generation, how will these digital natives who embrace disruption and innovation save most effectively for their children’s education?

An option that is on the rise is the bursary-building platform School-Days. By interacting with brands and mobilising family and friend support, parents are actively saving towards the quality education of their children.  A School-Days bursary can be built for school, college and university.  Dis-Chem, recognizing the need for education funding in South Africa, were the first corporate entity to put their weight behind School-Days.  Lynne Blignaut, Group Customer Services Head at Dis-Chem expressed that purpose in telling “Our customers, and their families have education as the heartbeat of their homes, and partnering with School-Days is our way of supporting that.”

School-Days founder, Chris Nel says, “We’re delighted at the response and salute our partners like Dis-Chem, who have so far contributed R22.8 million to family bursaries, and together we have grown the number of paid for school days to 190 265 that can now be paid for.”

A major boost to the platform is the recent on-boarding of the Exact brand of TFG (The Foschini Group) which has 309 stores across the country.  Nikki Crous, Head of Marketing at Exact, says, “It’s a perfect fit for Exact to become part of the School-Days bursary platform.  As a brand, with family at the heart of everything we do, we know how much quality education means to our customers and South Africans want their consumer spend to be able to contribute to something meaningful and tangible in their lives. Exact cares and is committed to helping children across South Africa gain access to quality education, and the School-Days platform is the perfect means to empower families to make it happen.”

Other new School-Days partners include Day1 Health, an authorised financial services provider offering affordable private health care packages.  They will make a monthly contribution to their members’ bursaries based on a percentage of the plans ranging from R265 to R760.  Opportunities to build the family bursary will be further increased as premier florist and gifting service, NetFlorist and online computer store FirstShop also become School-Days partners in the upcoming months

The good news is that you as the parent do not have to go it alone.  The flexible platform enables your friends and family members to connect and contribute to your bursary.  This can be just through swiping their linked cards at the till points or by actively boosting the bursary with gift contributions that can be used towards both school and tertiary education.

“There’s a huge advantage for the modern family in having school days that are paid for” says Nel, “Educating our children well is one of the greatest concerns for parents, and society.  It’s a great opportunity to bring together brands that care and family and friends to give today’s parents more prospects to fund quality education of our future generations.”

School-Days is free to join, and it’s easy to build a bursary. Click here to join School-Days and start building a bursary for your family’s education: https://www.schooldays.co.za/#join-today. 

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Discover the Future of Kids’ Safety and Connectivity — Meet the Freedom 2

It’s a Saturday morning at a bustling shopping mall in Johannesburg. Little Thando, full of curiosity, wanders off while his mom browses the toy aisle. In seconds, panic sets in — that heart-stopping moment every parent dreads. But unlike most stories, this one ends differently. Thando’s mom opens the Freedom 2 app, taps “Locate”, and within moments, she sees his exact position — just outside a nearby store. Relief floods over her as she spots him, still holding his ice cream, completely unaware of the worry he caused.

In a country like South Africa, where safety is always top of mind, the Freedom 2 isn’t just a gadget — it’s peace of mind on your child’s wrist. With increasing concerns about public safety, this smartwatch gives parents a practical way to stay connected and prevent tragedy before it happens.

✅ Why the Freedom 2 is a Must-Have

If you’re looking to give your child both freedom and safety, the Freedom 2 by Fabulously Fit is a standout. Designed with parents and kids in mind, this smart watch blends advanced technology with kid-friendly features — providing peace of mind for you and fun for them.

1. Stay Connected Anytime, Anywhere

With full 4G support, the Freedom 2 enables 2-way voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and even WhatsApp — letting your child reach you instantly, and you keep tabs on them with ease. 

2. Precision GPS Tracking for Added Safety

This smartwatch uses GPS + AGPS + LBS + WiFi to track your child’s position with 5–15 metre accuracy. Set up geo-fences — get alerts when your child enters or leaves a safe zone. Review their route playback. Activate an SOS alert if they need help. All this gives you real-time confidence. 

3. Dual Cameras, Smart Tools & Kid-Friendly Features

Your child can snap photos or make video calls with a dual-camera setup. The watch also includes smart tools: WhatsApp, MP4 player, voice recorder, class-schedule tracker, math games — blending safety with learning and fun. 

4. Durable Performance & Long Battery Life

Built on Android 4.4 with 2 GB RAM + 4 GB ROM, a Nano-SIM slot for connectivity, and a robust 1 000 mAh polymer battery. It also features a 1.69″ IPS colour touchscreen (240×280 pixels) and modes for vibration, voice or silent notification — ideal for in-class use without distraction. 

5. Designed with Kids in Mind

A “No Disturb” mode ensures the watch won’t interrupt learning time. A pedometer and sleep monitor support wellness tracking. Remote monitor and remote shutdown features let you discreetly check that everything’s okay. 

🎯 Why It Matters for Your Family

Modern parenting comes with a tough dilemma — you want your child to stay connected and safe, but you don’t want to hand them a smartphone too soon. Too much screen time, access to social media, and unrestricted internet exposure can harm focus, sleep, and emotional wellbeing.

The Freedom 2 offers the perfect balance. It gives parents the ability to call, message, and locate their child instantly — without placing a smartphone in their hands. Your child gets independence and responsibility; you get reassurance and control. It’s connection with boundaries — the healthy middle ground every family needs.

🛍 Get Yours Now

Available in Blue, Pink, and Black, the Freedom 2 is ready to become your child’s everyday companion.

Shop now at Be a Boffin 

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START YOUR CHILD ON THE CODING PATH, EVEN IF THEIR SCHOOL ISN’T THERE YET – EXPERT

There is a lot of talk in South Africa about the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the need for education in the country to start preparing learners for the future world of work from a young age. Unfortunately in South Africa, resources are often lacking and many teachers are not yet equipped to teach coding. However this shouldn’t stop parents from encouraging their children to start with the basics of coding from a young age, an expert says.

“As we teach our children to read and speak our mother tongue language so we should start with coding at an early age,” says John Luis, Head of Academics at ADvTECH Schools, a division of South Africa’s largest private education provider.

“Parents who are not tech savvy may find this daunting, so the easiest way to start the children off will be to download some apps to their mobile devices which will use games to kick off the coding thought processes. Learning to code is like learning how to speak, read and write in a different language. Children are very good at learning a variety of languages from a young age so teaching them coding will be no different,” he says.

Luis says that the importance of preparing children for a technologically-enabled future cannot be overstated.

“Technology changes rapidly and our children must be able to adapt, be agile minded and most importantly prepared for the future working world. The 4IR should not be dismissed as a buzzword – it is real, and it is here where our lives will become intertwined with technology, the edges between reality and virtual worlds will blur and we need to ensure our children will be effective workers in this rapidly changing environment. 

“This means that in the future world of work, coding will be a fundamental digital skill which our children will need to be literate in much the same way we prepare our children with language, numeracy and physical skills. Coding is no longer a skill reserved for scientists, engineers and IT geeks.”

Luis explains that the fourth industrial revolution is characterised by a rapidly developing technological environment in which disruptive technologies, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, robotics and artificial intelligence are changing the way we exercise, play, study, live and work.

“Behind this technology, functionality is achieved using code. It is how we communicate with computers, build websites, mobile apps, computer games and instruct robots. The Internet of Things (IoT) is already becoming more integrated into our homes. Smart TVs and watches, automated home management and security are only some of the examples where IoT is already used.”

Like mathematics, becoming competent in the language of coding has many advantages beyond the obvious, he says.

“Coding also helps with maths skills, it fosters creativity, improves problem solving abilities and can improve language and writing skills,” he says.

Internationally coding has long been recognised as a future life skill and is offered as part of the normal primary school curriculum.  In South Africa, high schools have had the subject from Grade 10 to 12 as a subject choice (Information Technology) for many years, but it was mostly offered to select learners based on their mathematics marks. Still, only a small percentage of schools have been able to offer the subject as it requires dedicated infrastructure and highly competent teachers.

The situation looks better at progressive private schools, where coding has been introduced as part of the mainstream offering, from as early as pre-prep, where children are introduced via simple techniques and readily available software.

“While many schools are still in the starting blocks, and most haven’t even arrived for the race yet, parents must realise that academic excellence and individual competitiveness in future will require a solid grasp of the language of technology. So the question of a school’s offering in this regard should be one they take very seriously before enrolling their child.

“And where they do not yet have the option of enrolling their child in a school that incorporates coding as part of the mainstream offering – which is the reality for the majority of the country – they should ensure that their child isn’t left behind, by assisting them independently,” says Luis.

One of the options available to these parents, is to search for holiday camps in their area. And where those are not offered, parents can start by helping their child download some of the various free mobile applications and software (listed below) which help young children to start coding, he says.

* Scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/educators) is a very effective free coding language that is designed specifically for ages 8 to 16 but can be used by people of all ages.

* Alice (https://www.alice.org/) is a block-based programming environment that makes it easy to create animations, build interactive narratives, or program simple games in 3D.

*Microsoft Minecraft Education an educational version of Minecraft, the game popular with children all over the world. (https://education.minecraft.net/) .

* Roblox (https://developer.roblox.com/resources/education/Resources) caters for children from the ages of 8 to 14.

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Teaching remotely: less is more

The temptation to do it all as if it is possible to maintain the pace and volume of contact education remotely must be resisted, an education expert says.

“As educators adapt to teaching remotely and online, there may be an attempt to mimic what a school day would normally look like, by filling learners’ days according to pre-lockdown timetables, and pace and content of learning,” says Dr Felicity Coughlan, Academic Director at ADvTECH, SA’s leading private education provider.

“However this approach is counter-productive, and can lead to further frustration, anxiety and tension under what is already challenging circumstances for all concerned, including for parents, learners and educators,” she says.

Dr Coughlan says there is an important difference between focusing on essential skills during this time, as opposed to trying to keep the curriculum going in full.

“Much of the stress people are experiencing arises from this well-intentioned attempt to ‘keep up’. It is far more conducive to learning and well-being to make deliberate choices and to pare back and focus on those skills around which we can then build content knowledge again later,” she says.

In quite unexpected ways the lockdown and the unique and unprecedented circumstances in which we now find ourselves, provide a perfect opportunity to develop and entrench those global competencies which otherwise might not receive the requisite focus during normal school time, Dr Coughlan says.

“We have known for some time that the world is changing, that the skills required in the workplace are evolving and that the workplace of the future is going to look much different from what used to be the status quo only four weeks ago. Now, all of a sudden, we find ourselves thrown into a completely new paradigm and it is quite clear that the world will not be the same.

“So what better time to develop those global competencies and master 21st Century Skills than during the biggest global disaster in recent history?”

Dr Coughlan says SA teachers have risen to the challenges of remote and digital teaching with remarkable resilience and zeal, with very little warning or lead-time. They have been wonderfully innovative whether or not they have had access to extensive educational technology or been required to use WhatsApp or other day-to-day communication tools to keep in touch with the children they were teaching.  The mindset of making do and re-inventing is a precious one we should not lose.

She says ADvTECH Schools have integrated Global Competencies in their curricula for several years, and that those schools and educators who have not yet had the time to do so or have treated these as peripheral, now have the perfect opportunity to embed them in “normal” teaching and learning.

“The world of the future just came crashing through our door,” says Dr Coughlan.

The Global Competencies of THINKING skills (creative, critical and reflexive), RESEARCH skills (collecting, recording, organising, interpreting), COMMUNICATION skills (personal interaction with others), SOCIAL skills (personal behaviour) and SELF-MANAGEMENT are the only ways that teachers and students will navigate this period and what follows it, successfully.

“So, for teachers developing lessons and content, and schools still grappling with how to approach learning at this time, consider that less really is more. If there is therefore a little bit of a silver lining to this disaster, it is that we now have the ideal opportunity to develop these skills, and that even those schools and educators who are not as well-positioned as others can include them.”

Now is the time to focus on the basics, and to aim for consolidation, says Dr Coughlan.

“It is true that for some this is easier than for others. There is particular concern about the Grade 12 class as well as the millions of children being left behind as education continues for some.  These social justice imperatives are not trivial, but are not addressed by the entire system freezing. It is however vital that those in positions of privilege who are able to still be learning effectively acknowledge this privilege with humility. 

“If your school or class can continue learning then this time needs to be used to develop global citizens just as much as it must be used to entrench skills.  Content can and will follow.  Don’t mistake quantity for quality. “

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