{"id":82,"date":"2026-05-07T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/?p=82"},"modified":"2026-05-07T20:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:48:59","slug":"teaching-maths-in-the-language-children-actually-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/teaching-maths-in-the-language-children-actually-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Maths in the Language Children Actually Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A new partnership is rolling out digital mathematics learning in isiXhosa in Eastern Cape classrooms, and it may point to what scalable, inclusive education looks like in South Africa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s foundational learning crisis is well documented. Only three in ten early grade learners can read at the expected grade level. Literacy challenges are not improving, and they are increasingly tied to poor performance in mathematics, where the ability to comprehend what is being asked is just as important as the ability to calculate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One initiative is trying to address part of that problem at its root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A partnership between Matific, the Eastern Cape Department of Education, and Click Learning has launched a digital maths learning programme delivered in isiXhosa, one of the most widely spoken home languages in South Africa, used by an estimated 16% to 20% of learners, with particular concentration in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premise is straightforward: children learn better when taught in the language they understand best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rollout combines curriculum-aligned digital content, voice enabled accessibility features, and AI-supported localisation infrastructure, built into a structured implementation model designed for real classroom use, not a lab or a pilot that bears no resemblance to how schools actually operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The isiXhosa content has been approved by the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), ensuring alignment with national language standards. The programme launched its pilot in selected schools in April 2026, with broader rollout planned once implementation has been refined.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Each partner plays a defined role. The Eastern Cape Department of Education versioned the student activities into isiXhosa and supported curriculum alignment. Click Learning is leading school rollout through structured delivery, technology infrastructure, and ongoing monitoring. Matific contributes its pedagogy first platform and the localisation infrastructure required for expansion into additional languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By localising Matific into isiXhosa while maintaining pedagogy and curriculum alignment, we’re helping more learners access maths concepts in the language they understand best,” says Craig Shotland, CEO of Matific, “while supporting teachers with structured, data informed instructional tools.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap this addresses is real. While learners in South Africa are already taught in their home language in early grades, high quality, curriculum aligned maths tools in African languages have remained scarce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What this enables is the use of personalised edtech in isiXhosa, helping learners engage with maths concepts in a way that is both accessible and responsive to their level,” says Dylan Harrison, COO of Click Learning. “For us, the focus is not just the tool, but how it is integrated into a structured implementation model that fits into the system and works in real classrooms at scale.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“While learners are already taught in their home language, there are still very few high quality, curriculum aligned maths tools available in African languages.”<\/strong> – Dylan Harrison, COO, Click Learning<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The programme also uses Matific’s AI features to help educators act on learner data and strengthen engagement with families, including through platforms like WhatsApp. The intention is not to replace the teacher, but to extend their reach and give them better tools to respond to where learners actually are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This positions technology as a capacity multiplier for teachers and the wider education system, rather than a standalone intervention dropped into a school and left to run itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current rollout is focused on isiXhosa, but the long term vision is broader. The initiative is designed to be expandable into additional African languages, building on a model that has already demonstrated strong learner engagement across three provinces through Click Learning’s existing programme with Matific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s growing focus on multilingualism and Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education gives initiatives like this a policy tailwind. The question has always been whether the content, the infrastructure, and the implementation model could catch up with the intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This programme is an attempt to answer that question in the classroom, where it counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit www.matific.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new partnership is rolling out digital mathematics learning in isiXhosa in Eastern Cape classrooms, and it may point to what scalable, inclusive education looks like in South Africa. South Africa’s foundational learning crisis is well documented. Only three in ten early grade learners can read at the expected grade level. Literacy challenges are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[27,20,18,16,26,28,25],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-technology","tag-corporate-social-responsibility","tag-csi","tag-csi-news","tag-csr","tag-education","tag-isixhosa","tag-maths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85,"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinews.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}