Education Minister Naledi Pandor has appointed a Ministerial Committee that would examine the issue of how to retain learners at schools. This is meant to help the education department pinpoint the reasons why learners drop out of school. The committee comprises high-powered experts and its main task would be to “provide definitive information” on learner retention rates from grade 1 to 12.
Mounting tensions between the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and the National Teachers’ Union (Natu) in KwaZulu-Natal have been blamed for the recent kidnapping and murder of two teachers in the province. The presidents of both Sadtu and Natu have undertaken to hold a summit involving both unions following the deaths of Philile Mthenjane, the deputy-principal of Hlokohloko Primary School in Jozini near Empangeni, and Phindile Ntuli, a department head.
Katlego Mafokate is the only black face among a multitude of white girls. This does not seem to bother her as the confident 18-year-old nudges her horse into a gentle trot. Katlego, a grade 12 learner at the prestigious Beaulieu College in Buccleuch North, Johannesburg, is getting ready to participate in a show-jumping competition in Sunvalley, near Kyalami in Midrand.
The faculty of education at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), formerly known as Randse Afrikaans Universteit, in Auckland Park, Gauteng, is transforming itself into a home that promotes a humane and caring ethos that would inspire students to value teaching as a profession.
Schools and communities around Mooi Nooi in North West will be major beneficiaries of an ICT in education programme recently launched by the Lonmin Community Development Trust and Microsoft South Africa (MSA). MSA has already, through its Partners in Learning programme, “funded and provided the national teacher professional development model for the initial training of teachers”.
Like all parents, Matthew and Nora Khanye sent their daughter Mapaseka to school so that she could take her place among the best in the world. Their wish was that at the end of her schooling she would help contribute towards the development of her country. But, perhaps, more importantly, that she would help them overcome their current economic difficulty.
Letsatsing High School’s recent good performance may have something to do with the fact that it is situated near the University of the North West. But if this were the case, then logically Sejankabo High School — also a spitting distance from the university — which made headlines with an appalling 27,9% matric pass rate last year, could also have excelled.
Cisco, an international and specialist leader in IT networking has teamed up with the national department of education to accelerate the development of critical networking skills in the country. As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, Cisco has created a facility called Networking Academy Programme to teach learners to acquire skills on how to design, build and maintain computer networks.
‘Hands up those who know who the black person to invent a clock is,” said the teacher to her class. No child raised a hand. “Does anyone know who Patricia Bath is? Who is the black person who invented the electric kettle in 1922?” Again, no hands were raised.
The winds of digital revolution have taken education by storm and do not appear to be relenting. Today’s new buzzword — raved about by e-learning fanatics — is podcasting and it is being hailed as an innovation that will enhance the quality of teaching and learning.