Thuli Nhlapo is a journalist, poet and author of Sibongo Sabo and Imbali YemaNgcamane, which made it as a finalist in the 1997 M-Net Book Prize. Is the language you chose to write in an important issue? I believe language is important and a nation is distinguished by its languages, which helps shape its identity. […]
Phaswane Mpe is the author of Welcome To Our Hillbrow. He is a former African literature lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand and is currently a doctoral fellow at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. Is the language you chose to write in an important issue? Language is an extremely important issue […]
Johnny Masilela is the author of Deliver Us From Evil: Scenes From A Rural Transvaal Upbringing and We Shall Not Weep. He has also written various short stories. Is the language you chose to write in an important issue? Language is important in writing, although I never had the opportunity to write in my indigenous […]
Barbara Johannesson reviews Spirit of the Nation — Reflections on South Africa’s Educational Ethos edited by Kader Asmal and Wilmot James (New Africa Education and the Human Sciences Research Council in association with the Department of Education, R92.90) The attainment of democracy in 1994 did not bring an end to the struggle, least of all […]
Philippa Bodenstein reviews Jade’s Story by Helena Pielichaty (OUP, R54.99) Jade’s Story is truly an amazing book. Jade, a well-behaved student, has many supportive friends, a father who owns a stationery shop and a working mother. Her life seems so perfect — until her father has an emotional breakdown. He always seems to embarrass her […]
The cries of cultural ‘purists” are horribly reminiscent of the narrow-minded dogma so readily trotted out by religious fundamentalists. In the view of these purists, on the same day the world was created, so were the traditions and expressions of their culture. Some say their cultures burst forth fully formed from a holy egg; others […]
For more than 10 years the question regarding the place of religion in public schools has been debated in many committees and forums in South Africa. The emergence of the new South Africa with its Constitution that enshrines human rights — among others, the right to freedom of religion — meant the demise of an […]
The educator team has sat for hours drawing up the school’s timetable for next year — never an easy task, but they feel they have nearly cracked it. Relieved teacher 1: ‘What’s left? Oh, only arts and culture!” Happy teacher 2: ‘Well LLC have taken their portion of A&C time already. So there aren’t many […]
South African teachers living in London love to tell horror stories about their experience of working in inner city schools. The children, they say, are lacking in social skills — they are rude, obnoxious and impolite. They ignore you when you speak to them and chatter constantly, cussing and teasing each other at every possible […]
Two sets of key questions frame the discussions on the introduction of an outcomes-based curriculum into the Further Education and Training (FET) band. The first set consists of questions that enquire about the design features of the curriculum, the process by which it is being developed and the plans for implementing it. The second set […]