Drowning is a major cause of death in South Africa, where far too many people cannot swim, writes Janette Bennett A howling wind is bringing rain. It’s cold. But that does not stop these teachers from learning how to teach children to swim. As their coach, German swimming champion Jens Stroh-meyer, puts them through their […]
Human Rights Commissioners won’t investigate specific racial incidents at Mpumalanga’s controversial Hoerskool Ben Viljoen. SHARON HAMMOND reports THE SA Human Rights Commission will not investigate specific incidents of racism at Mpumalanga’s controversial Hoerskool Ben Viljoen, said commissioner Charlotte McClain. She said two commissioners and a legal officer would only probe general allegations of racism and […]
Work has all but stopped at Vukuzenzele Combined School in Mpumalanga after parents and pupils chased 22 teachers away on Monday. DUMISANE LUBISI reports A SCHOOL near Volksrust in Mpumalanga has been paralysed since 22 teachers were chased away by a mob of parents and pupils on Monday, African Eye News Service reports. On Tuesday […]
A proposed budget cut in Mpumalanga could leave schools around the province without basic school stationery and other learning materials. SHARON HAMMOND reports A PROPOSED R23-million budget cut to Mpumalanga’s already under-funded education department would result in shortages of basic school stationery and other learning materials, IDASA’s budget information service warned on Thursday. The cut […]
SELBY MAKGOTHO reports MORE than 1 500 unemployed teachers are threatening to disrupt classes and picket government offices in Bushbuckridge at the end of the month to force the Northern Province to hire them. They accuse the province of breaking a promise to employ them in special matric ‘finishing centres’. Some of the protestors were […]
Two news stories illustrate the abundance of guns in schools. DUMISANE LUBISI reports A YOUNG gunman tried to force a Northern Province principal to write a fake school testimonial for him on Monday. Police spokeswoman Inspector Mosima Serite said three males, aged between 17 and 21, were arrested at Makopi High School, near Burgersfort, after […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN reports POLICE arrested a 33-year-old senior education department typist on over 300 forgery charges on Wednesday in what is described as a “significant breakthrough” in Mpumalanga’s 1998 matric exam scandal. The arrest follows more than one-year of intensive forensic investigation into how officials fraudulently boosted the province’s average matric exam pass rate by […]
DUMISANE LUBISI reports A NORTHERN Province teacher who allegedly caned a 10-year-old boy so severely that he could not go to school for two weeks will be disciplined. Evans Folowela Makete, 34, a teacher at Motupakgomo Primary School in Bolobedu near Tzaneen, is also facing a criminal charge of assault with intent to do grievous […]
Bogged down by a procedural problems, the school feeding scheme isn’t reaching the children who need it most. DAVE LARSEN reports CHILDREN from Ngongolo Community Primary School press around the bakkie. Their eyes are vacant and few smile because it takes too much energy. The school is in the Guqa area of KwaZulu-Natal on the […]
The Congress of South African Students has undertaken to stop failed pupils forging their report cards in order to be passed to a higher grade. By PHILLIP MOROBI and SHARON HAMMOND MPUMALANGA plans a major clampdown on failed pupils who transfer to new schools and then forge their report cards in order to be passed […]