Teachers and principals of eight Mitchell’s Plain primary schools are pioneers in a new digital school management system called SchoolTree, which is set to revolutionise educational operations in South Africa.
The initiative provides an integrated digital solution – Edsby – that brings teachers, pupils, parents and the Department of Education together.
Alpine Primary in Beacon Valley, Caradale Primary in Rocklands, Duneside and Harvester primary schools in Westridge, and Lantana, Merrydale, Springdale and West End primary schools in Lentegeur are members of the Pick * Pay’s School Club programme in the Metro South Education District (MSED).
Partners from the SchoolTree initiative trained the selected schools’ principals and teachers between Monday October 14 and Friday October 25 on how to use the overall Edsby platform.
It was geared towards familiarising schools with the initiative to be run over the next eight weeks, which is intended to go live next year.
Edsby connects teachers and resources so they work together more efficiently. This frees up teachers from doing administrative work and allows them to spend more time in the classroom, focusing on the pupils.
Developers hope SchoolTree will have an impact in facilitating better communication between the education department and the schools; and how it can help better plan their allocation of resources.
The final phase will be getting the parent and pupil community involved in the communication network.