”TEACHING kids business savvy goes beyond playing shop. Real job growth is essential for South Africa’s continued economic progress. One important enabler of job growth is the unleashing of entrepreneurial talent.” So says Judy Wade of McKinsey South Africa, a global management consultancy organising an international competition for budding local entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship as a school […]

New programmes encourage learners to think like entrepreneurs WITH 500 000 learners leaving school every year, more of them than ever will now have to choose to start a business. In every sector there has been large-scale restructuring, resulting in a loss of previously secure jobs. An already-high unemployment figure only compounds a school-leaver’s plight […]

Theatre helps teach valuable life skills THEATRE has always been a powerful educational medium. Realising this power, Arepp Educational Trust — a non-governmental organisation — has been using theatre for social education for years. Arepp is currently taking Look before You Leap, which is targeted at 15- to 18-year-olds and Don’t Think So!, aimed at […]

Engaging plays, like No Monkey Business, ask important questions and teach learners valuable life skills TEACHING children to make informed decisions and to be aware of the dangers of drugs before they are exposed to them is what No Monkey Business is all about. This simple but effective puppet show, pitched at six- to 10-year-olds […]

A SCHOOL for the deaf on the outskirts of KwaMashu township north of Durban is making its mark as a place of excellence. VN Naik, where the medium of instruction is sign language, has achieved a matric pass rate of 100% for the past four years in a row. School principal Thinacarunagran Govender hails his […]

Visually impaired learners struggle to get training in vital life skills MINISTER of Education Kader Asmal’s recent calls for ”sensitivity and provision” for the needs of special learners has a way to go before it is met, if the current problems facing blind learners are anything to go by. There is much that sighted people […]

A new diversity directorate is set to look at values and difference A RECENT incident at a school in Gauteng has once again brought the challenges of managing diversity in our schools back under the spotlight. What really transpired between two students at Sutherland High school near Pretoria last month is far from clear. Even […]

World Book Day, on April 13, reminds us of the importance of reading THE theme adopted for this year’s annual World Book Day to be celebrated on Thursday, April 13, is ”The need to read”. Usually commemorated on April 23, the day of William Shakespeare’s birthday, this year’s celebration was moved to April 13 as […]

Crucial changes are planned for the 2001 matric exams BOTH long-standing education issues and more recent natural and man-made disasters occupied the attention of top education authorities at this month’s Council of Education Ministers. The meeting was attended by Minister of Education Kader Asmal, all nine provincial MECs for education, and other senior education officials. […]

Many public and independent schools are reaching out to less-privileged schools. ”ONE nation, two worlds” has become a catchphrase for the radically different realities South Africans live — from those who sleep on featherbeds and have the world at their feet, to those who lie in the gutter without a profitable prospect in view. Schools […]