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/ 8 June 2005

School behind bars

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.

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/ 18 May 2005

Feel free to speak your mind

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?

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/ 13 May 2005

No quick fix for C2005

The curriculum is likely to be marked by changes for some time THE period of transition from the dreaded apartheid-based form of education to a curriculum that complements and nutures our new era of democracy is due to continue for some time to come. Linda Chisholm, who headed up the Curriculum 2005 review committee,does not […]

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/ 13 May 2005

Boost for matric fraud investigation

An internal tribunal has found two education officials guilty of inflating the 1998 matric results by over 20% THE investigation into the massive irregularities of the Mpumalanga 1998 matric results are finally bearing fruit. Two provincial Department of Education officials, Kate Mokoene and Gogo Ndlovana, finally attended an internal tribunal into their alleged involvement in […]

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/ 13 May 2005

Keeping the blind in the dark

Visually impaired learners struggle to get training in vital life skills MINISTER of Education Kader Asmal’s recent calls for ”sensitivity and provision” for the needs of special learners has a way to go before it is met, if the current problems facing blind learners are anything to go by. There is much that sighted people […]

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/ 13 May 2005

Running riot for ‘justice’

The youth run amok intent on dealing out their form of own justice. RECENT events once again demonstrate the youth’s conviction that mob action is the best way to express grievances and demand ”justice”. The past lives on: Numerous incidents of students running riot in the name of ”justice” suggest that this generation has more […]

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/ 13 May 2005

‘Fly-by-night’ school fights back

Confusion reigns as an independent school forced to close goes to court ACTION by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to crack down on ”fly-by-night” independent schools operating illegally may open the GDE up to legal action. A Pretoria-based independent school, Way to Success Academy, late last month took the GDE to court for having […]

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/ 13 May 2005

A weak link in the chain?

School governing bodies’ election year brings up fresh debate IT’S election year again, as the three years of service for those on school governing bodies (SGBs) comes to an end, and new representatives have to be voted in. Posters encouraging parents to become more involved in their children’s schools were in evidence at a conference […]

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/ 13 May 2005

Christian appeal dismissed

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 […]

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/ 13 May 2005

Floods close schools

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 […]