Suzan Chala

Paula Niel cannot take any of her four children to school because she does not have money to feed her family, let alone for expenses like their registration fees or school uniforms. She has repeatedly gone to the local school to beg the principal to allow her eldest son, Nathan and daughter, Felodine, to be […]

Five learners were allegedly shot by the police in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, according to media reports. This occured during a march this month by parents and learners demanding that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) register their school. The learners suffered minor injuries. People’s Power Secondary School was set up earlier this year by Khayelitsha […]

If anyone ever doubted that South Africa’s many different religions and cultures can coexist happily together, they should visit Sacred Heart College in Johannesburg. The Marist Brothers probably didn’t even think about accommodating diverse beliefs when they started the school in 1889 with five Catholic learners in Koch Street, Johannesburg, under the name of Marist […]

In the past, many South African-born Jews did not regard this land of braaivleis and baasskap as their land of milk and honey. In fact, it would not have been unusual for a local Jew to know more about the Warsaw Ghetto than Soweto. Yet eight years into a non-racial society, South Africa’s Jewish youth […]

The bronze dome of the mosque can just be seen from the grounds of Islamia College in Lansdowne, Cape Town. At first sight the college looks like an exotic fortress meant to keep the faith-filled in and the faithless out. But on entering the college all preconceptions of what to expect from an Islamic school […]

Islam is one of the most important religions in the world. Indeed, more than one-billion people identify themselves with Islam. That means that about one out of every five people in the world is a Muslim (follower of Islam). After Asia, Africa is home to the next largest group of Muslims. More recently, Islam has […]

‘The teachers love me, the children love me. Some of the children were worried they would get Aids from me, but some of the others told them Nkosi is a gentle little boy, he will not harm you.” These are the words of Nkosi Johnson when asked in a radio interview whether he liked school. […]

A hill in the heart of Soweto that used to be a dumping ground and a hub of criminal activity has been transformed into an art, culture and environmental centre called the Soweto Mountain of Hope – Somoho. Somoho was created by Mandla Mentoor, winner of the individual award in the Green Trust Awards last […]

It’s a world out of the ordinary: from state-of-the-art sporting facilities to a jam-packed extra mural diary, the girls at Kingsmead College can count themselves amongst the luckiest in the land. An independent school in Rosebank, Johannesburg, all the ingredients for an excellent education are on tap. Sporting facilities, for one example, include a gymnasium, […]

The national Department of Education recently launched the Crime Buster campaign, which aims to make training in self-defence techniques widely available to schoolgoers. Also known as the Ikusasa Lethu campaign (a Zulu term meaning ‘Our future”), the aim is to teach all girls learners, as well as boys under the age of 10, to defend […]

But Herker Vos, principal of Mamoratwa Farm School in Ottosdal in the North West province, says the dreams of her learners died before they even began: ‘A lot of children come to school to study for 12 years and then end up as farm workers. So they do not see why they should go to […]

KES was started in 1902 in a vacant cigar factory on the corner of Gold and Kerk Streets under the name, Johannesburg High School for Boys. It was established in 1902 as the first Government high school for boys in Johannesburg. It has since changed premises twice and undergone two name changes; firstly when it […]

For over 600 learners in the Western Cape the 2002 matric results must have been music to their ears. Literally. That’s because the 305 higher grade and 363 standard grade learners all passed their matric music exams – some with honours. But if music is truly the food of love then thousands of learners countrywide […]

Every evening the corridors of Sivile Primary School in Khayelitsha resound with song. For commuters navigating their way through the traffic from the city bowl to the township, the sounds are like audio flashlights guiding the work-worn home. Sivile – like many of its counterparts in the Western Cape – stands tall on a platform […]

To Michael Williams, making music is not simply about, well, making music. The general manager of Cape Town Opera – who also happens to be a prolific composer and novelist – believes it’s about telling stories through sound and song and feeding off a myriad of muses – both classical and contemporary. In fact two […]

Relatively new – and often misunderstood – kids on the education block are the Further Education and Training (FET) colleges. Established by the FET Act in 1998, the 150 institutions formerly known as technical colleges went through a process of change to re-emerge as 50 FET colleges. So what are FET colleges? Are they for […]

School libraries are central to a successful learning and reading programme in a school, particularly in South Africa where outcomes-based education (OBE) is the norm. OBE is a resource-based methodology which means that both educators and learners are reliant on access to a range of resources for the teaching method to be successful,” says Joy […]

A school that started 113 years ago as a one-learner outfit in the house of a German pastor named Kuschke has grown into the renowned Deutsche Schule zu Johannesburg (DSJ) with almost 1000 learners. International events helped fashion the school, with the flood of German immigrants following the gold rush to Johannesburg in the late […]

Motshidisi Tsuke wakes up every morning to teach the tired and hungry-looking children at a farm school on the security-tight farm of Barnsvlei in the Free State. After travelling 60km to school, Tsuke has to wait with the learners for the farmer to open the main gate ‘at his convenience” to gain access to the […]

Since it was elected to power in 1994 the ANC government has, like any other democratic government, met criticism from the media — most of it well-deserved. But instead of reasoned responses, leaders of the party and its aligned organisations have resorted to allegations of racism against the media.

What would you do if you lived in a country where there were no laws against domestic violence and your parents believed problems should be resolved at home with your husband who is an abusive police official and a cheat?

The South African president is dwarfed by world leaders. If a man’s height truly determines his success, President Thabo Mbeki is in trouble. After Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, Mbeki might be the shortest leader in the world

Tebogo Bilal Monkhe recites the Lord’s Prayer and sings Christian hymns with his fellow pupils every morning at Eketsang High School in Katlehong.