If you asked someone to list 10 words they associate with South Africa, "crime" would almost certainly be among them. With 35 000 young people under the age of 21 currently awaiting trial or sentenced and imprisoned, it would seem that lawlessness is going to be a defining feature of South Africa for a long time to come.
I have a question for all teachers and principals: do you feel free to speak to the media? Or do you find yourselves "censored" — either because your district manager tells you that you can’t be interviewed by a journalist without going through the official "channels" or because the Voice of the Department speaks on your behalf?
The Constitutional Court upholds the ban against corporal punishment THERE’S no more getting around it: corporal punishment has no more place in our schools, and educators are going to have to get serious about finding alternatives. This follows the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of an appeal by Christian Education of South Africa (Cesa) to have corporal […]
Over 200 000 learners have been effected by the floods in the Northern Province. THE schooling of hundreds of thousands of learners has been suspended because of the floods that have ravaged the Northern Province. Department representative Rapule Matsane says that four of the seven regions have reported the closure of 382 schools. The estimated […]
What the youth are saying about sex should make us sit up and listen YOUTH are speaking out candidly — perhaps for the first time — about what sex means to them. ‘I have watched S’cumto and it’s quite cool. We were given sex education at school where we learnt a lot of things we […]
LIKE a bolt out of the blue, what was once a stable, happening school in the affluent area of Bryanston in Gauteng suddenly became a hotbed of racial violence and controversy. Or was it so out of the blue? Some would argue the signs that all was not well at Bryanston High school had been […]
WHILE the worst of the cyclones and floods seems to have abated, schooling is still on hold in the Northern Province. Department representative Rapule Matsane says that the 382 schools previously reported closed will remain so, while a further 322 in the Ellis Rus area are also not presently functioning. This brings the number of […]
Learners at an Eastern Cape school held teachers hostage in an attempt to get money for their farewell party. IT’S nearing the matric farewell party season again and, in our particular South African fashion, it won’t simply involve the grade 12s finding an outfit and a partner. Mass action may precede the party at many […]
Education MECs are taking to blitzing problem schools to sort them out. LEARNERS and teachers who like to be serial slackers had better watch out. These days, the next guy to walk into the shebeen during working hours might just be an MEC. Worse still, as Gauteng MEC for Education Ignatius Jacobs showed late last […]
EFFORTS to clean up the education system in Mpumalanga are paying off, as educators who do nothing other than slack off are being called to account. The most recent individual to be affected by this no-nonsense action is Principal G Madonsela from Ncakini Secondary school in Nelspruit. Department of Education representative Peter Maminza says Madonsela […]