The fuss and fanfare that the highstake matric exams attract from the public and education departments alike is quite hard to fathom. It’s as if we all agree to buy into the idea that the results really are a reflection of the health of our education system, despite the many sides that are masked by […]
So you dream about taking a little bit of dis and a little bit of dat and recording your groove on your very own CD? Well, you may as well dream of flying to the moon because you have to be rich or plain lucky to have that kind of technology available to you – […]
My route to work takes me past the bottom-end of Hillbrow in Johannesburg. Every morning a very disturbing sight awaits me: on an island in the middle of a busy intersection, a group of wretched children begs from motorists while sniffing from glue-filled containers. Two things always strike me. One is what future these children, […]
For most youngsters, deciding on a career path is a daunting process. With little self-knowledge and even less experience of the world, it’s no surprise that figuring out a future is a terrifying prospect. Add to this financial constraints and an education system that is yet to clearly align itself with the world of work, […]
The Review of the Financing, Resourcing and Costs of Education in Public Schools represents two months of intensive research and analysis by departmental officials into the structure of state funding and the costs of education that are so often compromising the child’s basic right to an education. It was motivated by concerns of Minister of […]
The latest war is on, like background music, on TVs and radios in all corners of the world. It’s high drama, reality TV with enough fly-encrusted corpses to turn the head of even the most dumbed-down couch potato. I’m not one who can watch it for long. I soon find myself scowling with the effort […]
Imagine this: a farmer wearing a pair of rubber boots and dirty overalls climbs into a tractor. The engine starts and the farmer drives away to fetch her kids from school. So how many of you had to make major adjustments to your mental picture when you found out that the farmer is, in fact, […]
It’s little wonder that it’s taken more than a decade to arrive at a draft policy on the place of religion in education. So prickly and emotive is this realm of human experience that the final policy will only be publicly released next month. The policy-makers need to be congratulated on the sensitivity they have […]
Themba Mbonani (August 1971 – 22 May 2003) was a talented photographer whose creativity often graced the pages of the Teacher. He battled against the odds that come with being uneducated and from an impoverished background to pursue his passion for images. Themba tested positive for HIV/Aids in 2002, and it became his fervent wish […]
Workers Day (or May Day) began in what many would consider an unlikely place: the United States. Led by Philadelphian carpenters all the way back in 1791, the original struggle was for a 10-hour working day. It took another 50 years or so before an eight-hour working day was won overseas, and it’s been a […]