A post template

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

Meeting the challenge

A new project has been launched to help teachers tackle issues of diversity in the classroom in a constructive way. RESPECTING and celebrating the differences between people are goals most South Africans (hopefully) aspire towards. Most of us know, however, that the legacy of so many years of apartheid makes these aims more difficult than […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

Way of the peaceful warrior

Mashile Phalane is a simple, determined man from Tzaneen with a loud voice. He only realised how loud when the government threatened anti-panic legislation to stop people like him from terrifying the public. Phalane is a key figure in Earthlife Africa’s anti-nuclear efforts. He calls himself a ”great challenger”.

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

Private schools serve public good

The number of independent schools is on the increase. SEVEN percent of South Africa’s schools are private, catering for less than 5% of the nation’s schoolgoers. They claim, however, to be making a national educational contribution out of proportion to the sector’s size. The number of independent schools registered with the Department of Education quadrupled […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

Bad news piles up in Colombia but US unfazed

Resilient rebels. Rebounding drug crops. Rogue American soldiers snared in plots to smuggle cocaine and funnel stolen ammunition toparamilitary death squads. The bad news has been piling up fast, almost five years after the United States began doling out -billion under its Plan Colombia aid programme to wipe out cocaine and heroin production and crush a long-running leftist insurgency.

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

A Vierkleur future

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? […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

A not so happy new year

Many students in the Eastern Cape began 2000 with no textbooks Four to one: Headmaster of Benjamin Mahlasela High school Siphiwo Baninzi (left) says four pupils crowd around one textbook. photo: gerald meintjies WONGELETHU Senior Secondary in Mdantsane was one of the lucky schools which received textbooks by January 18, helping to alleviate shortages of […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

Gauteng prosecutes parents for truancy

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 […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

A, B, C Guide

TINA-LOUISE SMITH reviews the Illustrated School Dictionary for Southern Africa (Francolin, R29,95) HMM, I enjoy dictionaries and this one is no exception. The design is colourful and well-spaced. Guide words at the top of each page are big and make for quick referencing. The style of entries is explained with examples at the beginning to […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

More creative reading

TINA-LOUISE SMITH reviews Refreshing Reading: Six Workshops for Teachers, Lecturers and Students Involved in the Teaching of Reading by Eleanor Russell (Macmillan, R31,35) THE aim of Refreshing Reading is to get teachers to get to grips with the process of reading and so facilitate change in the way we teach reading. The six units of […]

No image available
/ 13 May 2005

Novels encourage empathy

TINA-LOUISE SMITH reviews two novels for young readers: The Bughouse by Lesley Milne (David Philip Publishers, R33,95) and The Girl Who Wanted to Be an Actress by Chris van Wyk (Maskew Miller Longman, R21,99) THE Bughouse is 140 pages of compelling reading. The bright cover and paperback presentation promise an interesting journey. Set in present-day […]