Tsogo Sun uses chess to teach disadvantaged learners

The programme is designed to develop the fundamental cognitive aspects of a child's capacity to understand basic maths, science and life skill concepts. It has been operational in schools around the country for four years, but last year saw the programme getting a significant boost with the launch of the Tsogo Sun Moves For Life partnership.

Tsogo Sun's investment in the national school chess programme is R10-million over three years. Launched in mid-2013, the Tsogo Sun Moves For Life programme is divided into three key elements, namely MiniChess (for Grade R to Grade 3), MasterMoves (for nine years and older), and teacher training. Currently there are more than 19,500 learners in the programme in 45 schools and 540 teachers were being trained, with even more hopefully coming on board in the future.

"The programme impacts all learners in the class, not only a few talented players," explains Shanda Paine, Tsogo Sun Group CSI Manager. "Tsogo Sun Moves For Life is part of the school timetable and lessons are conducted in the class weekly with the focus throughout the lessons on fun activities - learning through play."

Marisa van der Merwe, Founder of the MiniChess programme, adds that the initiative's learning process is broken down into small steps, building confidence while keeping it fun, and is in line with the skills level of the young child at that specific age. "The foundation phase element of the programme consists of four levels with each level accommodating the continual development of skills and capacity as the child grows. Young children learn well through play, especially at the foundation phase."

Tsogo Sun Moves For Life incorporates the story of chess; the chess board and pieces and chess board games that link with visualisation and problem-solving; the basic moves; playing full chess games, using all the pieces and linking chess concepts with maths, science and life skills; ensuring that confidence and having fun is part of every lesson; learning to be a competitor; lots of practical play and working through relevant project books.

The programme is structured in such a way that teachers do not need any chess knowledge to present the material to the children, but through the basic training, and the lesson plans provided, the teacher is learning how to play and teach the game. This leads to an increase in the number of teachers who can teach chess at a school "and often means that new chess enthusiasts are born," says van der Merwe.

Chess listed among government's top 16 priority sporting codes for inclusion at school level

In 2012, van der Merwe won the prestigious Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Award in the educators category for the strong contribution that MiniChess is making to foundation phase education of a total of about 50,000 learners in 170 schools around the country.

Vusi Dlamini, Group HR Director for Tsogo Sun, says that chess was selected for the Tsogo Sun corporate social investment programme for various reasons associated with the proven benefits of chess to learners, as well as the fact that chess is listed among the government's top 16 priority sporting codes for inclusion at school level. "Our initiatives are designed to comply with government's strategy and objectives within the school system to ensure that we contribute to the overall development of learners."

The programme, he says, is particularly valuable as it represents a significant investment in young children's lives, which is extremely important in South Africa's education process.

Impact of MiniChess on learners - results and advantages

Together with the launch of the Tsogo Sun Moves For Life initiative, a study has been initiated by the University of Johannesburg specifically on the broad-based impact of MiniChess on learners and teachers, which is using a control group and a study group to determine the results, as well as the Department of Education's Annual National Assessment (ANA) results.

Over the years, the chess programme has produced excellent results, with reports from teachers, parents and learners commending the programme for its various advantages. The BJ Bhejane Primary School in the Empangeni District of KwaZulu-Natal wrote to Van der Merwe, acknowledging her as a 'great thinker of our time' and listing the benefits that the programme has brought to the school as improved academic performance for both learners and educators, an increase in learner enrolment, changing the language of learning and teaching from Zulu to English, and networking with other schools in the area and being a positive example to them.

Zamintuthoko Primary School in Mamelodi West in Gauteng acknowledged that the positive outputs from the programme include a greater interest and improvement in maths and English; a growing maturity among the learners in problem solving; an increase in confidence levels; and an improvement in socialising skills.

School readiness is often a problem, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and chess is making a difference. "When youngsters start school without being school ready, they don't get the full benefit from the schooling. The Tsogo Sun Moves For Life programme positively impacts school readiness.

In a pilot study to determine the impact of MiniChess on school readiness in an informal settlement in South Africa by Joreta Parsons from the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria, established that learners in the experimental group significantly increased their performance in relation to the control group. "This means that the learners in the control group who did not take part in the programme, showed no significant increase in ability over this period of time, despite the fact that they attended pre-school with the experimental group. The MiniChess element of the programme proved to be a reputable instrument to increase the performance of early childhood learners by means of an instrument that is based on play. Learners become actively involved in the process." The MiniChess programme presents a solution to the need for learners in disadvantaged areas to enhance their performance and be school ready.

"For Tsogo Sun to make such a long-term and bold step shows a full commitment to deal with the real education issues in this country," says Van der Merwe. We recognise their investment in early childhood development which will be felt in later years by the children, their communities, and the country as a whole, as a well thought through strategic decision."