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/ 19 April 2005

Conversational conversions

Six Johannesburg schools have clubbed together to operate a programme that provides mother-tongue support to black learners in predominantly white and English-medium schools. And now one of the six, Parkview Junior School, has reversed the process, offering Zulu additional language classes that integrate learners across racial and cultural lines. The main programme has been running […]

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/ 19 April 2005

Growing hope in a battle zone

Since its inception in 1989, Missouri Secondary School has been associated with lawlessness and disorder – and, on occasion, outright violence, like when a learner shot his classmate on the school premises in 2002. But Martin Louis, appointed as acting principal last year, is determined to stop the rot. Already there are signs that things […]

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/ 19 April 2005

College markets ‘unregistered programmes’

Patrick Commercial College in Gauteng, also known as Patcom College, is marketing programmes for which it is not registered. Currently the college is registered with the Department of Education’s directorate of private higher education institutions (PHEIs) to offer only information technology at certificate and diploma levels. However, a brochure from the college’s Benoni branch is […]

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/ 14 April 2005

Jouney to the soul

The violence that once tore KwaZulu-Natal apart continues to haunt the survivors. But an alternative therapy seems to be putting those ghosts to rest, helping people heal their psychological and emotional wounds. TheTeacher investigates this new therapy, called The Journey, which is being piloted at six schools.

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/ 14 April 2005

Strategies for getting ahead

With the nation’s unemployment rates hovering around the 40% mark, learning
institutions have their work cut out for them to give their learners a shot at becoming active in the economy. <i>TheTeacher </i>visits an independent school intent on nurturing confident learners.

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/ 7 April 2005

Some bumpy beginnings

The doors of learning creaked open with some difficulty as schools re-opened last month. While provincial heads insist the start of the school year went well, reports from around the country told a different story. Work on the ground suggested illegal exclusions, as well as classroom conditions that do not promote learning, still affected thousands of children.

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/ 5 March 2005

Journey to the soul

Umbumbulo, a rural village near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, was the scene of brutal conflict in the early 1990s between the Inkatha Freedom Party and African National Congress, which left orphans, widows and a shattered community in its wake.

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/ 2 November 2004

The struggle to communicate

By all appearances, the property looks like any other in the affluent neighbourhood of Parktown West, Johannesburg. But once inside the reception area of the house, the multitude of pictures and photos packed on every wall suggests that this is no ordinary house.

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/ 11 October 2002

Zwartkop’s one-stop service shop

The Aganang Community Centre is a beacon of hope for thousands of informal settlement dwellers in Zwartkop, north-west of Johannesburg. The modest office boasts the barest necessities, but a stone’s throw away is a prefab structure housing a thriving basket-weaving project and a creche.

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/ 28 September 2002

A choice to move

Johannesburg’s city council and the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) have found that the carrot works better than the stick when it comes to removing people from illegal structures and dangerous areas. ARP spokesperson Mike Maile says they have "learned a lesson from using courts".