The South African Human Rights Commission has found that South Africa has two basic education systems — the dysfunctional and impoverished schools used by the majority of children, and those for the privileged minority comprising well-resourced islands of educational excellence.
Government proposals for the revamping of further education and training (FET) colleges have run into a barrage of criticism that they "abdicate responsibility" and are out of kilter with broad state policy on skills acquisition. The FET Colleges Bill, ostensibly aims to streamline the colleges to meet South Africa’s chronic skills shortfalls more effectively than former technical colleges.
More than 7 000 state schools, housing 3,6-million pupils, have so far been identified as qualifying for fee exemptions in terms of the government’s new means-tested fee subsidy scheme. It emerged recently that all the provinces except Gauteng and Mpumalanga have completed the audits of school catchment areas required as a first step towards instituting the scheme.
All staff at the Vaal University of Technology were forced to buy a photograph of vice-chancellor Aubrey Mokadi, with university funds, to hang on their office walls. And all departments had to buy birthday presents for him, also with university funds, and to celebrate another occasion he created called ”The Day of the Vice-Chancellor”.
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/ 17 February 2006
Intense anger has erupted among academics after three major United States foundations pulled the plug on sponsorship of a conference to be held in Bellagio, Italy, after vigorous lobbying by pro-Israeli groups. The conference, organised by the American Association of University Professors, was to have debated academic boycotts.
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/ 14 February 2006
As many university education faculties face financial meltdown, South Africa is training only about a third of new teachers needed to replace those leaving the school system each year, according to a government report. The report observes that there are about 350Â 000 state-employed teachers in public schools.
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/ 13 February 2006
University of KwaZulu-Natal vice-chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba’s reasons for barring renowned academic Ashwin Desai from seeking employment at the university are cast into serious doubt by a document in the Mail & Guardian’s possession. This is the 1998 settlement agreement between Desai and the former University of Durban-Westville.
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/ 27 January 2006
Rhodes University has offered Dr Ashwin Desai — controversially barred from seeking employment at the University of KwaZulu-Natal — both a short-term lecturing post in sociology and a venue for his research project on transformation in South African sport.
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/ 13 January 2006
A national and international brouhaha has rapidly developed following the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s decision to bar renowned academic and activist Dr Ashwin Desai from seeking a position at the university. The decision has elicited letters of strong protest from Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein — among other well known figures from abroad.
Preceding last week’s televised announcement of the 2005 matric results was a programme called Shift. One caller asked what school subjects she should take to prepare herself for a career as a model. The studio panel’s answer was that there aren’t any such subjects. This interchange put a finger very precisely on what has become a key question to ask of the matric exam: Who exactly is it for?