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Partnership: Schools and parents need to work together to give children the future they need, argues the author, who adds developing resilience and ‘flexpertise’ independently is important for students. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
EDUCATION

There’s a quiet crisis in our schools

At the heart of every successful school is a thoughtfully designed educational journey, supported by a respectful partnership between school and home

  • Stuart West
7 min read
Fifty-nine learners in Giyani were taken to hospital when they fell ill after eating food provided under their primary school’s nutrition programme as well as snacks. (Limpopo Health Department)
DZUMERI PRIMARY SCHOOL

59 learners in Giyani taken to hospital after eating food at school

The pupils fell ill after consuming a meal provided under the school’s nutrition programme and snacks

  • Aarti Bhana
2 min read
Mix and match: Teachers from different backgrounds bring other views into the school to the benefit of learners, teachers and parents and prepare the scholars for adult life in a diverse society. Photo: Gianluigi Gurcia/AFP
EDUCATION

Schools need teachers with diverse identities

Despite desegregation, schools tend to retain their historical learner and teacher racial profiles

  • Nuraan Davids
6 min read
Nyanga High School in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape
EDUCATION

The ‘place’ of education

A geographer and teacher reflects on how physical spaces can influence emotional places

  • Iviwe Mtubu
6 min read
Hands-on: The Green School South Africa uses the outdoors as an extension of the classroom to teach subjects in the curriculum such as science and maths. Photo: David Harrison
ALBA BRANDT

Africa’s first green school ‘cultivates a love of nature’

The Paarl campus of Green School South Africa uses solar power and climate-smart water management systems.

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read
While anecdotal evidence pointed towards low rates of registration of ECD services, it was confirmed by the 2021 department of basic education’s ECD census, which found that only 40% of centres were registered, while a third of programmes receive a subsidy.
ANGIE MOTSHEKGA

Schools show shortfalls amid Covid-19 pandemic

Learners from grade R to 12 return on Wednesday to school for a new academic year.

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
The general public is most often unaware of certain manipulations that enable some schools to claim their 100% pass rate records and the prestige that comes along with it. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
EDUCATION

The problem with schools boasting 100% pass rates

Schools that boast of perfect pass rates often do so at the expense of weaker learners who are rooted out well ahead of the final exams.

  • Jackie Cook
4 min read
Our beloved country is burning and bleeding and this is partly a reflection of a school system that is often hyped by high matric pass rates at the end of each year, yet fails to account for the millions of learners who have fallen by the wayside.(Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via Getty Images)
ZUMAUNREST

School system produces dropouts who are used to drive unrest

Our government needs to interrogate our education system because worse is still to come through the hands of the youngsters who they have failed

  • Palesa Mofokeng
  • Bafana Mohale
3 min read
All teachers, including those with comorbidities, are expected to return to work when schools reopen, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Wednesday. (Paul Botes/M&G)
ANGIE MOTSHEKGA

It’s back to school for the 16 000 teachers on special leave for comorbidities

People at early childhood development are still fighting to get Covid-19 vaccinations

  • Charma du Plessis
2 min read
The long wait to move early childhood development teachers to the department of basic education will be over in nine months, but this does not mean all of them are yet in line to be vaccinated. (Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)
ANGIE MOTSHEKGA

Early childhood development teachers to move to basic education department from April next year

The long wait to move early childhood development teachers to the department of basic education will be over in nine months, but this does not mean all of them are yet in line to…

  • Charma du Plessis
4 min read
(John McCann/M&G)
ANGIE MOTSHEKGA

Soweto teacher dismissed for the alleged repeated rape of a learner

The learner was 13 when the alleged rapes started, and they continued for two years until she asked to be moved to another school

  • Bongekile Macupe
5 min read
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
BULLYING

SAHRC hearings: The lies and incompetence behind bullying and crimes in schools

Some principals do not have the skills to compile bullying reports; others fear being victimised. This has led to children battling the scourge alone

  • Bongekile Macupe
6 min read
Schools are meant to reopen on Monday; the 2021 academic year for higher education institutions will begin only in March. (Photo: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP)
BLADE NZIMANDE

Education gets little attention in Sona, despite being badly affected by Covid

Ramaphosa says regaining learning time lost to the coronavirus pandemic will be a priority this year, but does not specify how

  • Bongekile Macupe
2 min read
Many grade 12 learners do not cope with the pressures of preparing for the matric exams
ANGIE MOTSHEKGA

A message to the Class of 2020: You are equal to this challenge

Given Covid-19, the ensuing lockdown, and the number of school days lost, the odds have been stacked against this year’s matrics. But our country’s children have previously shown…

  • Bongekile Macupe
4 min read
Equal Education has criticised last week’s medium term budget policy statement for what it said was a failure to provide adequate funding to the education sector. (Madelene Cronje)
BASIC EDUCATION

Government must give a helping hand to learners who drop out

We cannot simply accept that 75 000 young people or more have dropped out of school this year and that life continues as normal — we need to give them opportunities

  • Bongekile Macupe
4 min read
Using AI without critical reflection widens the gap between relevance and convenience.
COVID 19

Covid-19 exposes South Africa’s digital literacy divide

Only a few households have access to the internet and students and learners , but educators can find ways to improve reading for meaning and digital knowledge

  • Pauline Hanekom
6 min read
Things are not well at all in classrooms. (Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
BASIC EDUCATION

Covid-19 in classrooms: When a cough causes chaos

Despite the department of basic education’s announcement that teachers and learners were given orientation about the coronavirus, anecdotal evidence doesn’t bear this out

  • Bongekile Macupe
3 min read
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ANGIE MOTSHEKGA

Only three grades to return to school on Monday

Only grades six, 11 and R will return to school as expected, with the rest to be phased in later in the month

  • Bongekile Macupe
3 min read
The way international students in the present crisis are treated may determine whether South Africa will be able to retain its prominent position as a preferred educational destination, and whether it will be a driver for PhD capacity development in Africa. (Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
BASIC EDUCATION

International students need equal care

Contradictory pandemic regulations could to be putting critical training in jeopardy

  • Nico Jooste
  • Cornelius Hagenmeier
5 min read
If we believe that race and identity are socially constructed, then we need to be open to the idea that these constructs can change. Speaking to young people would be a good place to start. (John McCann/M&G)
APARTHEID

Cape Town learners identify as coloured; the curriculum and teachers say they’re Biko black

The teenagers, who clearly understood that race is fluid – some even changed their identity – felt shunned. If race is socially constructed, they should not be ignored.

  • Natasha Robinson
4 min read