Tuesday July 24, 2001 Oxford University could face a legal battle with the Commission for Racial Equality after it failed to respond to questions over allegations that an Asian academic was racially discriminated against by the university. As part of its normal practise when deciding whether to take up cases, the commission last month gave […]
Trevor Letcher, professor of the School of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Natal, has received one of the highest awards made to a scientist in Southern Africa, the prestigious Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science Gold Medal for 2001. Johann van den Berg, dean of the Faculty of Science, said […]
The antics of Western Cape educator Janine Orderson in Big Brother, the 24-hour reality television show on DSTV and M-Net, has become a talking point in education circles. Orderson, a primary school grade seven teacher, merrily consumed alcohol, paraded in a G-string and spoke of her sexual fantasies on the show. The divorced mother of […]
YOUR GUIDE TO INVESTING IN EDUCATION Futurekids (SA) embarked on an intensive countrywide teacher training programme at the beginning of the year that represents a major investment in the skills of South African educators. Futurekids (SA) managing director Victor Schultze says the investment in teachers is critical, as the new educational paradigm calls for more […]
Step Six gives you ideas about how to see whether your governing body is working well as a team, and whether you are making a difference to the school. There are two kinds of evaluations that your governing body needs to do. The first is to evaluate the relationships and ways of working of the […]
Apartheid-era perspectives still feature in history textbooks, according to Minister of Education Kader Asmal Minister of Education Kader Asmal cites the poor quality of history teaching at schools, the use of discredited apartheid-era textbooks, and the slide of history as a subject, as some of the reasons for the troubled state of history in schools. […]
The biggest interschool sports competition and development programme in the country was launched last month. Sponsored to the tune of R25-million, the loveLife Games is a partnership between the United School Sports Association of South Africa, loveLife and the government. It will see competition, taking place on district, regional and provincial levels in a variety […]
‘Principals are the captains of the ship that will lead the fleet of the future.” This was one of the memorable comments that best summed up the annual conference of the South African Principals Association. More than 500 principals, a diverse mix from rural and urban schools, gathered in September to discuss a variety of […]
Racism and sexism are now taboo in schools. But rampant homophobic bullying is ruining many young people’s lives. Wendy Berliner reports on a new strategy to fight it Tuesday October 2, 2001 The Guardian This summer more than four million, mostly young, people voted for Brian Dowling, the gay air steward who won Big Brother […]
Good news is not newsworthy It seems as if the print media is mainly interested in reporting sensational news stories Since 1994, there have been many stories about racism, especially at former Model C-schools. Former Afrikaans schools like Vryburg High have received much media attention that only the ignorant are unaware of their recent history […]
The ever-present threat of a sudden spike in global oil prices, and the resulting impact on slow-growing and struggling economies such as Japan, Germany and France, poses a significant risk to local exporters who rely on those markets for much of their business, says a senior South African economist.
The Labour Court on Wednesday postponed judgement on the interdict brought by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against gold miner Harmony Gold with regards to the laying-off of about 5 000 mineworkers. NUM said that the court had indicated that it would make an announcement at 10am on Friday.
The strong trend in new vehicle sales growth continued last month, with the industry recording its best-ever figures for the month of April. New vehicle sales for April 2005 amounted to 40 477 units — an improvement of 11 796 vehicles or 41,1%, compared with the 28 681 new vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.
The Zimbabwe government has "little in reserve" to fight off the country’s domestic economic problems and President Robert Mugabe is effectively a rugby fullback facing a front line of opposition, said the Movement for Democratic Change on Tuesday in a post-mortem of the March 31 parliamentary election.
I’m going to use a couple of words that you might have been trained to switch off at and back away from: "culture" and "art". Don’t panic. Locally, "culture" and "art" tend to be rather primitive, grim and at best just a creative reaction to the various past and present oppressions in this society — regardless of the ethnic origins of whoever is doing it. Here’s some art that actually has a brain and is rather cool.
This week, let’s look at current events and oddities that perhaps indicate where we are heading as a gadget- and convenience-loving species. Despite the myths of humankind being "hard working", the truth is that throughout history, all the big leaps forward in technology seem to have happened because we are actually lazy as hell, and always looking for an easier way of doing things.
In a fishy tale with a different ending, an Australian angler on Tuesday described how a 1,5m mackerel jumped into his boat, knocked him down and injured him — and then got away. Glen Hopper said he suffered bruised ribs and cuts to his face and arms when the mackerel flattened him.
Doctors in northern Thailand have removed almost three dozen fly maggots from a woman’s nose, where they were eating their way towards her brain, a report said on Tuesday. The 38-year-old pig farmer from the north-western city of Chiang Mai is believed to be the first reported case in Thailand of maggots nesting in a human’s nose.
"Being a bit of a drama queen and a kugel too, I burst into tears when the young black United States Customs and Immigration man at John F Kennedy airport held my hand in a tight grip and rolled my fingers round and round, every one, to allow the computer to take accurate fingerprints. Right then, the drama queen in me imagined myself in Guantanamo Bay, blindfolded and crouching," writes Ferial Haffajee.
China is dramatically expanding both economic and political involvement in Africa in a bid to secure energy supplies, access to basic commodities and new markets for its manufactured goods. African leaders looking for development models to replace the economic liberalism of the Washington Consensus are increasingly looking to China’s industrial revolution for inspiration.
"After a somewhat neurotic start, the local mini-series, <i>Hard Copy</i>, has settled into its scaffolding and now ranks in the very short list of worthy productions to have emanated from SABC television. It’s economically shot and scripted, The characters resolve authentically and maintain their individuality", writes Robert Kirby.
Free-to-air channel e.tv editor-in-chief Joe Thloloe will be leaving the station at the end of this week, the channel said on Friday. Thloloe was appointed to the top job in 2002. Thloloe joined e.tv as a media consultant and was instrumental in the establishment of its news and current affairs programme <i>Morning Edition</i>.
Yvonne Vera died shrouded in her own mysteries, just as she wrote them. In retrospect, it seems as if that is what she intended. But why? In one of her novels, <i>Butterfly Burning</i>, she wrote: "The fire moves over her light as a feather, smooth like oil." Fire would burn away the delicate elegance of the butterfly. A moth drawn to the naked flame.
The last rebel leader still fighting in Burundi, Agathon Rwasa, emerged from the bush this week to begin preparing for negotiations in Dar es Salaam to join the peace process. Those talks could begin as early as next week. Rwasa, leader of the Forces of National Liberation, told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> that the time was right to join the peace process.
South African producer prices for all commodities rose by 1,9% in the 12 months to the end of March, from a 1,2% increase for the 12 months to the end of February, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. "I think inflation going forward might not rise as much as people think," commented economist Mike Schussler.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spin doctors mounted a novel defence on Tuesday after schoolchildren appeared to boo the premier on a pre-election visit, explaining they were actually chanting "boom", an arcane term of approval in British youth slang. Slang expert Tony Thorne said "boom" is a term signifying "approval or delight".
Tax officials in Sierra Leone have infuriated Christians with the publication on Monday of newspaper advertisements saying Jesus Christ supported the paying of taxes. The half-page advertisements quoted Jesus’s reply when he was asked if he was against a law requiring the payment of taxes to the Roman emperor.
Britain’s state-owned postal service has found a novel cure for rampant absenteeism among staff, according to a report on Tuesday — tempting malingerers back with the chance of winning a car. Since the Royal Mail started the incentive scheme six months ago, attendance levels have risen by more than 10%.
CPIX inflation (headline inflation excluding mortgage costs) was up 3,6% year-on-year (y/y) for metro and other areas in March, compared with a record low 3,1% y/y in February, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. "March’s CPIX inflation rate rose mainly on the back of the petrol price hike," commented an economist.
Luntu Msongel of Umtata cites some causes of confusion in the way we use the English language ‘Basefiticate!” “Besesitifate!” “Bethsetiticate!” Confused? Actually, these are just a few variations of the word “birth certificate”. And a direct result of some still believing that “pronunciation is a matter of opinion, what matters is the meaning”. Most people […]
The Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal, has expressed concern over the comments made by a group of four teachers to an evaluation panel in Gauteng about Nadime Gordimer’s book, July’s People, as well as books by a number of other authors. Asmal said the comments were ill informed, pedagogically unsound and smacked of anti-intellectualism. […]
Name: Shonisani Makhari Age: 27 Occupation: Journalist for Business Report Describe your typical day at work My day starts early at 6 o’clock because there are always breakfast meetings to attend. Conference is at 10 o’clock, where you discuss what is on your diary for the rest of the day. After a day of interviews […]