[FRIAM] My plan to disrupt education

[Pieter Steenekamp]

The public education system in South Africa is largely broken. For those
who can afford it, we have very good schools, but the majority cannot and
the education options for them are bleak.

I plan to do something about it.

This is my second attempt. About three years ago I started a school as a
proof of concept with a radical model to have very high quality yet very
low cost education and it failed miserably. (I managed to make plans for
the kids and I don't believe any suffered from the experience - I pulled
the plug before too much harm was done). I've thought, and discussed it a
lot, and I'm ready to roll out my second, very different attempt.

The basis of this is that there are plenty of resources available for free,
and provided you manage the environment properly, kids can and will teach
themselves.

My plan is a model with two legs, both legs offering very high quality
education, but the first leg is relatively expensive and has "bells and
whistles" to attract the wealthy and the second is bare bones to make it
affordable for those kids whose parents can't pay.

The profit from first leg schools then cross-subsidise the costs of the
second leg schools.

The concept for both legs are copied from https://www.khanlabschool.org/ ,
adapted for local conditions of course. The second leg schools will just be
a low cost version, but the education offered will still be world class.

Our academic year starts in January. I'm working flat out to have my first
school of the first leg open in January 2022. Then to have the first school
of the second leg open in January 2023. Then to learn from the experience,
adapt and roll it out so that every child in South Africa has access to
world class education in five years time.

Pieter
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