Time and Data for Tutors

Universities across the world, including in South Africa, are moving to online means for teaching and learning. While the University of the Western Cape has launched a vast campaign to raise funds for laptops and data packages for students, teaching assistants, or tutors, are not priority recipients of the fund raising efforts, nor can they purchase data for teaching. Moreover, they are often working much more than the 5 or 10 hours per week that they are currently paid for, helping the undergraduates understand the material. In these difficult conditions, the staff of the Department of Physics and Astronomy have come together to volunteer their own research or publication funding to be able to support the tutors, but this falls short of what is needed. The project grant will be used to purchase data packages and fund extra time for teaching assistants in the Physics and Astronomy Department.