THE SOLUTION

Bright Kid Foundation supplies and installs complete Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDCs).

These ECDCs consist of:

Fully equipped Edutainer preschool and Grade R classrooms for 25 children

The Edutainer® is an ‘instant classroom’ made from a 12 meter (40 foot) shipping container, ideal for pre-school classrooms, taking up to 25 children.

The Edutainer® is an innovative and practical way to address the problem of scarce, inferior early childhood education in South Africa. The conversion process ensures that the Edutainer® is fitted with windows and doors, insulated, electrified, furnished, and then delivered to a community and installed on prepared concrete footings. The Edutainer® is plentifully stocked with carefully selected books, teaching aids, and educational toys. Edutainers® are usually used as pre-schools for three to five year olds in poorer areas where there are no existing preschool facilities or those that are available are substandard at best, to provide and safe and productive learning environment.

The extensive conversion transforms the container into a bright, airy classroom which includes: insulated ceilings, large windows, a heating fan, soft-board, chalkboard, sheet vinyl flooring, electricity, burglar bars, a lockable cupboard, shelving, and coat-hooks. The Edutainer® is decorated on the outside with durable weather resistant paint, and filled with school furniture and educational toys. The Edutainer® is also adapted for disabled children with a wide door, ramp, and support bars.

The Bright Kid Foundation infrastructure team builds the Edutainer® footings and then delivers the container to a selected site. Edutainers® are donated to carefully chosen early learning NGO’s with a sound infrastructure and well trained teachers.

Converted containers solve the difficult problem of building in remote areas. In addition to the Edutainer® pre-schools, we are also producing Booktainer® Libraries in response to community needs.

Inside an Edutainer classroom

Edutainer

The Edutainer® also includes special storage facilities for chairs and tables for 20 adults (parents or learners), which can be quickly and easily swapped with the children’s furniture after school hours. Th e addition of adult furniture will double the number of hours of use for the Edutainer®, as it can be used as a preschool during working hours, and for parent-teacher meetings, or Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) after hours and during the weekends. In rural areas, the adult furniture is especially useful, as the Edutainer® is used as a community centre.

Plan of a Playtainer

Children playing in a Playtainer

The Playtainer is designed to draw community members with young children into ECD to foster the importance of play, from birth, in learning and development. It is a gateway to promoting ECD in the community and serves as a bridge between the very young, children outside of regular ECD exposure, and those attending an ECDC.

All Bright Kid Foundation Edutainers are Agrément certified

Legally, container conversions and prefabricated buildings are classed as temporary structures. Unlike brick buildings where plans have to be approved by the local municipality, container conversions are manufactured off site and delivered. Non Agrément Certified container conversions do not conform to National Building Regulations, and cannot be installed for permanent installation. Ventilation, insulation and fire hazard prevention have not been inspected. Agrément is affiliated to the Department of Public Works and does a rigorous inspection of container conversions before providing certification. All Bright Kid container conversions are Agrément Certified and conform to National Building Regulations. Over 620 containers have been delivered since 2000. Bright Kid Foundation Early Childhood Development infrastructure can be registerd with the Department of Social Development and the Department of Basic Education for registration for the per child subsidy.

Service Centre (office, kitchen and sick-bay) and Super Service Centre (office, kitchen, food storage and sick-bay)

The fully equipped 6m Edutainer Service Centre is disabled adapted with a wide door, ramp, and support bars. It includes insulated ceilings, two whirlybird heat extractors, rust proof aluminum windows, sheet vinyl flooring, electricity, overhead lighting, plug points, and burglar bars. It is fully hand decorated on the outside like the Edutainer®

The kitchen includes an electric or gas stove, a fridge, a double bowl stainless steel sink with counter and a cupboard. The office includes a wooden desk with drawers, a swivel chair, a steel stationary cabinet and a pin board. The sick-bay includes a bed and a cupboard. The Super Service Centre includes freezers and shelving for food storage.

The Sick Bay in the Service Centre

Kitchen in Service Centre

Office in Service Centre

Hygienic robust flushing ablution facilities

Bright Kid Foundation ablution is connected to main line sewage (if available) or to a fully functional septic tank.

Bright Kid Foundation has an expert team lead by a highly qualified plumber that installs flushing ablution, including disabled adapted units. The toilets flush to the main sewer line or an appropriately sized self sustaining septic tank.

Flushing water is provided by a tank that can be fed by either rainwater trapped by a roof, or by municipal water, borehole water or tanker water

A shade area that traps water in a tank and feeds it through a Soap and Water Station (SWS)

The water can be used for a Wash Station. Hand washing using a soap station and a food garden.

Mjindi High School 4 tap SWS

Fred Habedi Grade R 4 tap SWS

Likwhezi SWS

Soap & Wash Station Video

Outdoor play equipment

The outdoor play equipment consists of a timber jungle gym (tanalith treated) with one raised platform covered by a sunblock shade roof. Two sides of the raised platform are surrounded by wooden hand railings. A wooden rung ladder and a fibreglass slide with two safety swings are attached to one side of the platform. There is a climb-up net rope and fireman’s pole. a timber rumble bridge and a timber seesaw are adjacent to the outdoor play equipment

Climbing net on outdoor play equipment

Outdoor play equipment showing slide, safety swings and ladder

Seesaw

Fencing

Secure fencing and gate

Secure fencing provides security that is essential for ECDCs, and is required for registration and per child subsidy.

Fencing is made from Class A galvanised mild steel.

The fencing consists of the following:

76mm diameter, 2mm wall thickness post 2.4metres long fitted on top with pressed steel mushroom caps embedded in 300x300x600 mm deep concrete at 3metre centres, including galvanised straining wires secured with binding wire.
Vertical height covered with 100x50x2,5mm galvanised class A weld mesh fencing 1.8metres high fixed to straining wires.
Manufactured purpose-made mild steel gates x2:(1800mm x 1500mm)

Carbon Footprint of container classrooms

Classrooms made from recycled shipping containers will have a very much lower carbon footprint than new classrooms made with cement bricks that have to be manufactured.

Special function containers

Booktainer (library)

The Booktainer is equipped with wooden shelving for up to 3000, books, floor mats for reading when necessary, furniture for 10 older and 10 younger children, and a librarian desk and chair. It also has the special features of Edutainers like a DB board and rust proof aluminium windows. It does not include books as every school has different requirements