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/ 7 April 2005

Reaching out to thousands

The National Professional Diploma in Education is an example of constructive cooperation between the government, social partners, NGOs and higher education institutions for the delivery of quality public education. This national teacher-training exercise yielded many success — and also difficulties.

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/ 7 April 2005

The Jag XJ6 is a sleek new cat on the road

It’s been 36 years since Jaguar brought out their first XJ6, and a number of my good friends have bought them over the years. This was not because they were great cars, but because they were so — well, crap. But that was then and now is now. Since Ford absorbed Jaguar into their Premier Group stable, the British products have improved in leaps and bounds.

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/ 7 April 2005

Bringing the national parks into your classroom

For a number of decades, environmental learning has taken place as part of formal education in South Africa and many countries around the world. However, the introduction of environment as a focus for all teaching and learning processes within the Revised National Curriculum Statement has been a much-desired change in education.

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/ 7 April 2005

Parish pump

What on earth were the hordes of South African observers doing in Zimbabwe? They certainly didn’t see the election we witnessed, if their reports are anything to go by. Living it up at the Meikles, no doubt, and probably shopping up a storm on their allowances. We should ask for our money back. It is true that there are none so blind as those who will not see, and the free and fair bill of health bestowed on the poll is a joke.

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/ 7 April 2005

Jobs strike deadline looms

Three thousand more workers were served with retrenchment notices this week as the Congress of South African Trade Unions — Cosatu — suffered a double blow after government and business refused to accede to its demands aimed at stemming a "tidal wave" of job losses. This has raised fears that a crippling national strike is now inevitable.

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/ 7 April 2005

Depression is not the end of the world

In South Africa, 9% of all teen deaths are suicides. In fact, only car accidents and homicide kill more young people between the ages of 15 and 24. Lourens Schlebusch of the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban is a world expert on suicide. Currently, he estimates there are at least 20 to 25 suicides per day in South Africa.

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/ 7 April 2005

A fragile peace in the desert

Ethnic clashes, blamed on competition for increasingly scarce water and grazing, are sweeping northern Kenya, as drought and famine intensify in the neglected region. Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 people have been killed in renewed violence perpetrated under the cover of long-simmering ethnic animosities, and fueled by the myriad conflicts which surround northern Kenya.