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 […]

The Gauteng MEC for Education is shaking things up with his hands-on approach BASED in an office 10 floors above the streets of downtown Johannesburg, Gauteng MEC for Education Ignatius Jacobs is a leader who keeps his ear to the ground. Jacobs, who believes in the ”rare skill” of listening, continually emphasises the value he […]

Sesame Street has been given a unique local flavour as it entertains and educates South African preschoolers. THE furry TV friends of the likes of Cookie Monster and Big Bird have South African cousins who are about to take to the airwaves. Sesame Street, which has entertained and educated young Americans for the last 30 […]

Children in Volkstaat Orania learn with all the benefits of technology AN exclusively whites-only settlement hidden in the expanses of the rural Northern Cape, where the next generation of Afrikaners homesick for apartheid are educated under the fluttering Vierkleur flag and with the latest in computer technology? Surely nothing but a way-out fantasy — right? […]

The Gauteng Department of Education is finding focus and form under the leadership of recently appointed MEC Ignatius Jacobs. CALLS from Minister of Education Kader Asmal for schools to become the centres of community life have resulted in an innovation that Gauteng Education MEC Ignatius Jacobs hopes will change the mindset of the majority to […]

Student action around the country shows the rising frustration of the youth. THE government is struggling to convince our youth that discussions with authorities are more effective in addressing their problems than the tried and tested method of mass action. In the latest development, the Gauteng branch of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) […]

The Gauteng Department of Education has charged a parent with failing to ensure that her child attends school. A PARENT in Pretoria (whose name has been withheld) has been charged by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) for failing to make sure her child attended school. GDE representative Lebelo Maloka says that the child’s continued […]