G e t t i n g F E T Your guide to further education and training for teachers South Africa’s oldest university is going all out to give today’s teachers what they need, writes Julia Grey Old and established institutions are well known for sticking to tried-and-tested ways of doing things and resisting change. […]
The attraction of free-roaming game draws thousands from afar to the Kruger National Park. But for learners at school inside the park, living with the animals is a way of life, writes Julia Grey In the heart of big five territory, Skukuza Primary School makes a mockery of what you’d expect from a school buried […]
Julia Grey visited a desolate school that is barely limping along Setting up in the morning for a day’s work can be a mission even for those with all the creature comforts of modern life – not least access to some kind of transport. So just imagine that simply getting to work involves walking for […]
Nombasa Hala joined Ndlovukazi High school in Queenstown in 1999 as a substitute teacher. Fresh out of college, she taught general science and maths for the year. ”Up until now,” says Hala, ”I have not once been paid. I have never received a cent.” She estimates that she is owed R36 000 by the Eastern […]
The rural town called Centane, which lies between Butterworth and the ocean, has five junior secondary schools servicing the area. No doubt this is too many for the size of the local population, if you judge by the pressure to secure enrolments-and teaching posts. Patricia Noah Junior Secondary and Mpentsa’s Junior Secondary are examples of […]
Schooling is going ahead in fits and starts as provincial mismanagement makes itself felt in the classroom. Reports and photos by Julia Grey Incompetence in the Eastern Cape Province Education Department (Ecped) is taking its toll on the smooth running of many of its schools. Ntlalo-Ntle Senior Secondary in Steynsburg is just one school facing […]
Tempers are rising in some education sectors over recent decisions which are being made without proper consultation, reports Julia Grey The Department of Education (DoE) has been accused of bypassing consultative processes and simply delivering final decisions to stakeholders. Both the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) and the National Professional Teacher’s Organisation of South […]
A major national education conference held by the country’s largest teachers’ union identified the same old problems. But actions being planned promise to make it more than just a talkshop, writes Julia Grey Government and union leaders, academics, and educators from around the country gathered in their hundreds at the recent South African Democratic Teachers […]
Where and when were you at school? I completed most of my schooling in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, from 1984 to 1994. My junior school was Rhodes Estate Preparatory School (REPS) in the Matopos situated outside Bulawayo. Strange that my schooling was in the heartland of Matabeleland, the centre of the atrocities of the early and mid-Eighties. […]
There’s a new second in command in the education ministry. Julia Grey spoke to Mosibudi Mangena about himself and what he thinks is needed in our education system Mosibudi Mangena is determined to remain close to his roots and champion things African. A look at Mangena’s background speaks volumes about why he identifies so closely […]