29th September 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
South Africa has stepped up a online tuition program as Matric students struggle to cope with their Maths exams. In the wake of the long holiday for the world cup, and recent public sector strikes, many Matric students (students in the final year of high school) have found it difficult to keep up with the demands on them to pass their Maths exams.
A possible answer to the problem is an increase in the number of maths tutors available on MXit (a social messaging program in South Africa). The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) has recruited many extra maths tutors to alleviate the pressure on the school system. The maths program on MXit is called ‘Dr.Maths’, and has previously only been available to a small number of maths students due to the difficulty in finding qualified tutors to help them.
The CSIR has now managed to extend the tutor database to over 100 tutors, who are available on MXit between 2pm and 10pm on Sundays to Thursdays. Each tutor is screened before they can register, but can then offer maths tuition to students throughout the country. The lessons are available to all students of any age, but at the moment Matric students are making the most use of the system in the hope of performing well in their upcoming Maths exams.