SAgo2school

We want to see EVERY CHILD in South Africa complete their school career.

In South Africa, we face the harsh reality that a staggering number

of our most vulnerable children lack the cognitive, social,

and the emotional skills needed to succeed in Grade 1.

The children we work with come from under-resourced communities marred

by poverty, gangsterism, abuse, and violence. They face numerous

challenges, including the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome,

low cognitive behavioural skills, and mental health issues because of trauma,

neglect, and food stunting.

Khula identifies these children and intervenes to prevent them from dropping

out of the school system by providing occupational therapy

techniques and emotional and social support.

Our goal? To prevent school dropout in South Africa.

We work with children from Grade R to Grade 4, where the foundation for their educational journey is laid. We truly believe that targeting the root causes of disengagement with our intervention programme, these children will be equipped to finish their school careers.

Khula has a classroom at each school where we offer our services to ensure the children receive the best possible care and to provide a safe environment where the child can thrive. Each school has two Khula-appointed facilitators - an Educational Support Facilitator and an Emotional Support Facilitator. The Educational Support Facilitator is under the supervision of our in-house Occupational Therapist and receives all the necessary training to implement occupational therapy techniques with the children to address their cognitive and developmental delays. The Emotional Facilitator is supervised by our Social Worker, who trains and supports the facilitator in identifying any potential trauma-related issues. This facilitator is also responsible for identifying any risks related to the child's wellbeing and referring the child to the Social Worker, who continues the process of involving external child protection services. Once the child reaches the desired outcomes of the intervention plan that was custom-designed for them and they are attending school every day, Khula closes their case on our database, and the child graduates from our programme.