LUV 2020: WHAT’S IN STOCK FOR US ALL?

LUV 2020: WHAT’S IN STOCK FOR US ALL?

I am writing this article filled with great pleasure and happiness as we managed to close 2019 on a high note. We, as Level Up Village Zimbabwe, managed to realise our efforts translating into positive results as we graduated from being a pilot project into a working concept. I’m very grateful to the team at Level Up Village for the strong support, this team comprising of the immediate staff, the teachers, the students and the parents who are eagerly supporting their students to communicate with their partner students across the world as they understand the value of global networks. We successfully ran our first #LuvToCode bootcamp, which ran from the 9^th to the 20^th of December 2019 got a shocking subscription of 43 local children and one international from Australia. Such a significant milestone has given us great energy as we enter into 2020. It gave us the impetus to do more exploits into the uncharted waters of globalizing the classroom.

I would to thank my CEO Amy McCooe and her entire team in the United States of America for their marvelous support as well as giving me the lee-way to try out new products in the Zimbabwean market in response to the feedback we get from our stakeholders. I could have looked like an orphan here in Zimbabwe but with their support, I have been very confident in our approaches in the market. To our beloved students of all ages, below is what we have in stock for you in 2020.

…Nationwide Expansion

Since we started Level Up Village in 2017 as a pilot project, we have managed to deal with approximately 40 schools in and around Harare. The initial growth was slow and weak but as time moved, we started to see light and this replenished our energy sources. In 2020 we would like to have an expansion of the number of students enrolled from just over 1000 per term to all the students in and outside the 8000 schools in Zimbabwe. We are planning on moving into other towns as well as in rural schools. With the expansion of the computerization of schools in the country, it would not be a problem for our programmes to be implemented even in remote rural areas.

…Curriculum expansion with Globalisation

We have been adopting the global curriculum in Zimbabwe since we started as an organization that was still learning. Now that we have managed to establish ourselves, we will construct our own courses with the guidance of our HQ. There are certain things that we feel need to be included into the curriculum which are unique to each and every country and society. Issues like Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Natural National Heritage studies. We strongly believe that such issues need the attention of the younger generation. The most interesting thing is that in every country there is a special heritage unique to the people in those areas and they each possess their own indigenous knowledge systems.

A good example would be for our children to learn together with their other overseas partners African heritage. They could learn about the Great Zimbabwe monuments in Masvingo with the entire world, whilst children also learn about the Great wall of China.

Students can learn on the expansion of the natural heritage in various parts of the world, proposing how the country can manage the impact of climate change on natural heritage as well as learning more about their local languages in a manner they can remember most. This can instill a lot of discipline and a sense of responsibility in our youths and children.

…Establish more partnerships

Ever since we started we have not been very serious about getting partnerships with other organizations. This was intentional as we were still building a brand that we felt needs much of our attention. We are very much confident that the brand is becoming known in the market now and we should engage other organizations as our partners.

Apart from partnering with schools such as Petra and Tynwald Primary School, we intend on partnering with education related service providers like publishing houses, booksellers and NGOs in the Education Sector.

…Take on the African Terrain

I believe there is a great market for the LUV programmes in the African market. The continent is putting a lot of resources towards education and bringing the project-based curriculum to most African countries would surely be a noble idea. Currently we have projects running in Rwanda and Kenya.

Weekend and Holiday Classes

In order to cover the entire country, we are going to have classes running on weekends and holidays so that we do not congest the school term