South African Women in Science and Engineering (SAWise), a national network of women scientists, is on the look-out for the top female science learners at Western Cape schools. A handful of high-achieving female learners from each school will be invited to celebrate Women’s Day on August 8 with young science role models at the "whale well" at the Iziko museums in Cape Town.
Jubilation was written all over the faces of this year’s 14 recipients of the much-coveted Nelson Mandela Scholarship for post-graduate studies abroad. A Unilever initiative, the only "payback" condition is that “recipients must return to South Africa and apply their skills and knowledge here”. Auditing firm Deloitte is funding four of the scholarships.
The more than 60 000 grade 11 repeaters in KwaZulu-Natal have been given another option to help them finish school. This follows an investigation by the KwaZulu-Natal department of education which found that most of the 62 000 learners repeating grade 11 this year are not coping and that schools cannot provide them with the help they need.
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.
School principals, school governing bodies and representative councils of learners have signed “contracts” with the provincial department of education, undertaking to improve the achievement of grade 10, 11 and 12 learners. Persistent failure to meet these contractual obligations could, in severe cases, lead to the redeployment or even dismissal of principals, according to the Western Cape department of education.
The education department in KwaZulu-Natal is recruiting teachers who retired and who accepted voluntary severance packages as part of its strategy to relieve educator shortages in certain subjects. Christi Naudé, spokesperson for the department, said 426 teachers have already been registered on the provincial database.
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.
Interactive whiteboards result in improved test scores, particularly in English, maths and science. This is according to a new report on the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on learner achievement. The report, by European Schoolnet, examined the results of 17 studies on ICT produced in the United Kingdom and other European countries between 2002 and 2006.
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.
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