The world faces a healthcare workforce crisis, and the available number of health workers does not meet the demand for accessible medical care.
The current number of health practitioners, both globally and locally, needs to be revised to tackle the burden of disease.
South Africa’s health system is overburdened, which significantly impacts the nation’s health, resulting in poor national health outcomes, poor standards of service delivery, long patient waiting times and high rates of healthcare worker burnout.
However, the dire situation can be significantly alleviated with the recognition of the important supporting – but overlooked – role that public health graduates can play, says Dr Jackie Witthuhn, Programme Manager: Public Health at IIE MSA, a brand of The Independent Institute of Education, SA’s leading private higher education provider.
“The role that undergraduate public health graduates, especially non-clinical staff, can play in the healthcare system is often overlooked. However, their skills can make a huge difference to increase public health capacity, freeing up medical staff to focus on patients while also focusing on primary interventions,” she says.
Undergraduate public health qualifications differ from medical or healthcare degrees, focusing mainly on disease detection, surveillance and prevention. The field or discipline aims to reach populations and communities and detect and prevent health problems before they start, rather than waiting to work with people once they are sick. Therefore, the public health approach is based on a preventative health model rather than a curative health model, explains Dr Witthuhn.
“There are many reasons for the health workforce crisis which need to be explored, including the Covid pandemic, which highlighted the structural weaknesses in our healthcare system, including neglecting primary care and prevention. Other reasons for the healthcare workforce crisis include poor workforce planning and a lack of proper planning, including task shifting, which is an approach to help address the shortage of healthcare workers by reallocating available and skilled resources.
“The burden of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, which are increasing at alarming rates, increases the pressure on the healthcare system. Primary prevention can largely prevent these diseases, an approach that emphasises the need for a preventative public health focus and approach. The significant role undergraduate public health graduates can play in this regard is often underestimated.”
South Africa can ensure a proactive approach by utilising existing public health resources more effectively and focusing on non-clinical Public Health graduates.
The question of how to provide an adequate health workforce is a pertinent one. A clear strategy is necessary and can include, among others: A more integrated approach to the planning and allocating of health workers and task shifting to use non-clinical public health graduates. Higher education institutions and health services work together to achieve distributed training and develop norms and standards. A more competent mix of staff per level of care to take stock of the available workforce, their training and skills. Government and industry recognise qualified staff such as public health undergraduate students who can be responsible for delivering a defined package of essential health interventions aligned to their skills and based on their qualification’s core discipline.
“We have the resources, but we need to start creating a system that can make optimal use of all of them,” says Dr Witthuhn.
“Future health workforce plans should focus on utilising existing healthcare resources and infrastructure considering South Africa’s developmental status. All of the conditions that can make change possible are already in place. Investing in the supporting role of public health graduates and focusing on primary prevention can greatly address the current healthcare workforce shortage to deliver significant health and economic dividends.”
Matric learner Sidney Ramantshwana and his peers are almost always exhausted by the time they get to school. Their long walk to the classroom covers a distance of approximately 14km which they complete in about two hours.
In the afternoon after a long day of learning they have to walk the same distance back home. Still, some of those who are heading households are expected to perform house chores such as fetching water, sometimes collecting firewood and preparing meals for younger siblings.
Ramantshwana, a Grade 12 learner at Hanyani High School in Sagole Tshipise in Limpopo, said the long walk to the school impacts on their ability to concentrate in the classroom.
“We are tired, always. And this place can get very hot sometimes,” he said, adding that he’s still determined to achieve his goal of passing matric and going on to study law.
Ramatshwana’s school is located in a remote rural area with very little access to modern amenities such as the internet and experiences poor network connectivity. This unfortunately is the lived reality of scores of rural-based learners across SA.
As hundreds of thousands of matric learners countrywide prepare to sit for their final year National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams on Monday, 30 October, rural-based learners like Sophie Sefala, face even greater challenges.
For Sefala and many learners like her, preparing for the NSC exams, which are set in uniform standard regardless of learners’ location, is a high mountain to climb given the unique challenges they face.
A 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 report estimated that roughly 2.8 billion people worldwide lack access to modern energy services and more than 1 billion did not have access to electricity.
“For the most part this grave development burden falls on rural areas, where a lack of access to modern energy services negatively affects productivity, educational attainment and even health and ultimately exacerbates the poverty trap.”
The constant power outages resulting from loadshedding have escalated the challenges faced by rural-based learners. “Not having electricity makes it difficult to study for an exam and makes it harder to get enough sleep,” said Mahlatse Ledwaba, a Grade 12 learner at Mmatshipi Secondary School in Utjane village in Mashashane, Limpopo.
“Sometimes when loadshedding occurs there’s no access to the internet and it is impossible for a learner like me to research or communicate with people about school work. It’s a challenge,” she said.
University of Western Cape’s Professor Rouaan Maarman who specialises in poverty and education noted while responding to the 2022 matric results earlier this year that “it seems as if the cycle of poverty is intensified by electricity blackouts and every layer of disadvantage contributes to a more challenging school performance in the poorer school communities”.
A 2020 study by Amnesty International titled Broken and Unequal – The State of Education in South Africa, concluded that the country “has one of the most unequal school systems in the world, with the widest gap between the test scores of the top 20% of schools and the rest.”
Ledwaba, 17, said in addition to the long walk to school, the lack of access to libraries is a major concern. The nearest library to her village is 30km away in Polokwane.
The fact that many families in rural areas like Mashashane rely on social grants for their sustenance means such trips to town are out of their reach due to financial constraints.
Rural schools lack basic facilities like toilets and ablution facilities which experts warn have a dire impact on learners dignity and self esteem. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Sophie Sefala, 18, is often forced to study by candle light due to power outages in her village of Ga-Mothapo, where she lives with her parents, her sister and her little child.
“Studying requires adequate light for extreme concentration and memorisation. Using candles while studying is difficult as it can run out at any time,” she said.
“Another problem is when we have to bathe with cold water in the morning, this causes many of us to catch colds and lose school days,” she said.
Praise Motebejane, an 18-year-old matric learner, epitomises the spirit of learners at his rural-based school in Ga-Ramogale, a settlement situated about 25 km east of Polokwane in Limpopo. Situated a mere 8 kilometres from the University of Limpopo in Mankweng, this school, much like others in the vastly rural province, wrestles with the unique challenges of rural education.
Schools in villages such as Ramogale lack basic services such as water and sanitation, to larger concerns such as inconsistent electricity supply and limited access to modern technology.
Understanding these challenges, Motebejane’s school, Gerson Ntjie Secondary, has had to be innovative by extending the school day – allowing matric learners to stay and study until 8 pm. This strategy aims to shield them from distractions at home.
“It’s demanding but mastering the balance is key. I want to go to aviation school and at this point unfortunately my parents won’t be able to take me. This doesn’t mean I will give up on the dream though,” Motebejane said.
However staying up late in schools is not always possible for many learners due to challenges that persist outside of the schools.
This was highlighted by an incident earlier this year when matric learners studying at night at the Georgetown High School in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal were attacked and robbed.
Zanele Modise, the Head of Organizing at Equal Education said vulnerabilities of rural students were exacerbated by the outbreak of Covid-19 and loadshedding.
Modise said walking long distances to school means learners get to school very tired and unable to concentrate in class.
“At times most of them haven’t had a meal, but also they wake up very early to walk dangerous terrains. We have had testimonials of learners who have been assaulted and one can imagine how traumatic that is,” said Modise.
Motebejane on the other hand, contends that academic pressures weigh heavily on him, especially after his grades recently slipped below his Grade 11 standards.
“For the final exams I have chosen to focus on the challenging subjects first and have found an invaluable app stocked with past papers for revision. Fortunately I am able to access the app on my phone, but sadly not all my peers have phones,” he said.
Gerson Ntjie Secondary School maintains its reputation as one of the consistently best-performing schools, with average matric pass results of 85% each year.
The wider challenges of rural schools in South Africa haven’t gone unnoticed. As highlighted by Professors Pierre du Plessis and Raj Mestry in the South African Journal of Education, which confirmed that progress in the rural education sector post-democracy remains slow.
As part of their recommendations they stressed that “the government must meet the challenges that rural schools face and must be actively involved in upgrading and developing rural schools”.
The National Framework for Rural Education: Enhancing access, equity and quality in rural schools by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) proposes that rural education provisioning capitalises on resources available in rural communities.
Most learners from rural areas like at Hanyani Secondary in Vhembe rely on the School Nutrition Programme for meals as they come from poor families some of which are child headed. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
The DBE notes that “provision of quality education in rural schools requires not only targeted fiscal investments, but also civic agency.”
It further suggests that “the DBE must collaborate with rural communities to mobilise resources (including socio-cultural, agricultural and natural resources, as well as indigenous knowledge systems).”
The rural education policy, which was adopted in 2022 as a national framework, proposed the establishment of a Rural Education Advisory Committee, including stakeholders and experts, to advise on policy implementation, fund rural education programs, and monitor the impact of these policies on rural education.
Phuti Ragophala, a retired school principal better known as “techno-gran”, acknowledged the determination required by rural learners to succeed.
“Learners from rural schools have much potential and talent. They just need support and encouragement to move forward,” she said.
Ragophala operates a coding program called Tangible Africa for rural learners in Sekuruwe that doesn’t require electricity, signal, or wifi, providing valuable skills to Grade 12 learners. She is also a recipient of the President’s Silver Award of the Order of Baobab this year for her contribution in education and promoting technological advancement to teachers and learners.
“What remains a challenge for learners, especially from rural areas, is the lack of gadgets and wifi connectivity. I believe that challenges are there to sharpen us and, to the matriculants I trust they will work hard and overcome come what may,” Ragophala said. – Mukurukuru Media
In a world where we are increasingly living in the digital space, teaching young people how to manage their digital lives safely and responsibly is imperative.
As the world observes Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, Shaun Fuchs, founder and CEO of Centennial Schools, points out that while the internet has opened a whole new world of possibilities for young people, they must be taught about cybersecurity and given the tools to keep themselves safe online.
Centennial Schools is highly invested in digitally-led education, with cyber security central to its teaching. “Given that almost 70% of South Africans regularly frequent the digital, the opportunities for students are vast. However, it can also be dangerous without essential tech-safety education,” Fuchs says.
“Gen Z is the most digitally literate generation on the planet. They live on their mobile phones. Using multiple online applications and platforms comes naturally to them. By modelling healthy tech habits and communication skills, we are helping them establish online boundaries, including communicating with people effectively online,” he says.
“We are in the middle of the 5 th industrial revolution, which means that almost everything we do has an online presence. This means we must teach our children to be vigilant and smart about their digital interactions. This includes password safety, determining the authenticity of an online profile, limiting the amount of information they reveal online, distinguishing between real and fake sites, and mitigating cyberbullying and scam-based situations,” he says.
Kreaan Singh, co-founder of CoinEd, who has partnered with Centennial Schools to provide blockchain and cryptocurrency training for students, says there are three essential rules for students to follow;
Be careful about the information that you share with people and online. Criminals will use this information to manipulate you to gain access to your personal information, including your cryptocurrency holdings.
Always do your research. Be wary of opportunities that sound too good to be true. A simple internet search will often be the difference between falling victim to a scam and avoiding one.
If your teenagers use Cryptocurrency or interact with any payment processes online, they need to understand how to secure their funds. Use unique, strong passwords if you are holding your investments on cryptocurrency exchanges. “By making sure our children are digitally literate and digitally safe, we are giving them the tools they need to succeed in life and work,” Fuchs says.
With the deadline fast approaching to enrol Grade 1 or Grade 8 scholars into schools in Gauteng for the 2024 academic year, there is help for parents who might need more support with the online application process.
Mohlago Ndebele, Service Team Lead at SPARK Schools, offers suggestions and tips to guide parents and guardians through the process.
“You cannot delay your application until the end of the year to secure a spot for your child in the school of your choice. Gauteng has hundreds of thousands of parents applying for schools, especially for Grade 1. The application process might feel daunting, but if parents and guardians do a little homework and preparation, the process should go much smoother,” she says.
Application tips and suggestions: Visit the school website: Set some time aside to go through the school of your choice application process to understand what you will need to ensure your application is successful. Look at the documents required and ensure you have them all. If you need clarification on the documents, call the school’s enrollment team to assist you with the list of documents. Most schools require the following documents: birth certificate of the child, proof of parent’s residence, immunisation card (Grade 1), latest report card, and parent or guardian ID. Pay attention to the details: Check before proceeding with the application; for example, ensure that you choose the correct grade and add the proper age to the application. It’s well worth reading the form carefully and double-checking when you are done. Don’t assume anything: Submit the required documents and pay to ensure the space is secured. Also, having a sibling at the school does not provide automatic enrolment for a younger child. You still have to apply for a position; do not delay the application, or you might have to find a new school for the younger sibling. Follow up: Once you’ve applied, call the school or their enrolment office to check progress. Checking your application is essential to know if anything is missing or any issues might delay your application. Visit the school: If your application is complete, visit the school. This is a great way to learn about the school values and the environment your child will learn from. You can also ensure that the school fits your child correctly.
“The application process might seem intimidating. However, it doesn’t need to be. With these easy steps, your child will be enrolled in no time,” says Ndebele.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) will hold a training workshop for school principals from special needs schools to focus particularly on the recent legislative amendments regarding sexual offences – Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act of 2021 which came into operation on 31 July 2022.
This legislation has, among others, amended the National Register of Sex Offenders by broadening its scope to not only protect children and mentally disabled persons but all vulnerable groups. It extends the list of persons entitled to submit applications to the Registrar of the National Register of Sex Offenders.
Further, it regulates the reporting duty of persons aware that sexual offences have been committed against vulnerable persons.
This training will occur a week after the South African Council for Educators (SACE) presented its 2022/23 Annual Report before the Parliamentary Education Portfolio Committee on 18 October.
The Report stated that SACE received 734 professional misconduct allegations against educators. Of these, 163 were related to sexual harassment of a learner (failure to report rape, rape of a learner, impregnating of a learner).
One hundred principals from all nine provinces are expected to attend this training, which aligns with the Union’s 2030 Vision, which is focused on creating a learning nation and servicing union members.
This workshop targets principals because they are the main drivers of change in schools so that they can steer their schools in the right direction. It is envisioned that they will use the information for their schools and cascade it to others through Professional Learning Communities.
The training session will also include presentations on mental health and other communicable diseases and leadership.
Clapham High School and Jabulile Secondary School have been crowned Gauteng Schools Football Champions.
The inaugural Gauteng Schools Football Champions League has crowned its first set of champions, with Clapham High School winning the boys competition and Jabulile Secondary School for the girls.
The culmination of five rounds of games that were played on a bi-weekly basis which began in July 2023, the league concluded at Kagiso Sports Complex in Krugersdorp on Tuesday, 20 September.
Both the winning teams, Clapham High School (Tshwane) and Jabulile Secondary School (Orange Farm), performed exceptionally well throughout the competition, having maintained first position from the beginning to the end to attain first place gold status as well as earn the R100 000 grand prize, with R50 000 going to each school.
The prestigious Clapham school, renowned for producing elite young football players, emerged as the male victors with a total of 17 points accumulated. They were followed by Bhukulani Senior Secondary School (Zondi, Soweto) as runners up with 14 and the SAFA Sport School of Excellence (Germiston, Ekurhuleni) and Rosina Sedibane School of Specialisation (Laudium, Tshwane) came in joint third place with 13 points each.
Jabulile came out on top of the girls teams with 19 points, while, Kwadedangendlale Secondary School (Zola, Soweto) managed a second place finish with 16 followed by the Curro Academy (Soshanguve), rounding out the top three with 15 points.
Clapham’s Kgaogelo Monyane was named male player of the tournament, while Neo Mafisa from Curro Academy was pronounced as both female player of the tournament as well as top female goal scorer.
The first-of-its-kind league format for School Sports in the country, the tournament featured 16 teams (8 male teams, 8 female teams) of the best-performing schools in football from the School Sports Wednesday league programme in Gauteng.
Implemented by the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation together with the Department of Education and supported by SAFA Gauteng, the programme has helped advance and expose top developing talent from Gauteng schools.
The board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has decided to terminate the contracts of all its four direct payment providers tasked to pay grants and allowances to students after a damning Werkmans Attorneys report found irregularities in the tenders awarded to the companies.
However, Nsfas sand it will ensure that the move doesn’t affect the payment of the grants to students.
The board’s chairman Ernest Khosa said they would also be writing to the Nsfas CEO Andile Nongogo and ask him to justify why his contract should not be terminated.
The scheme’s board chairperson, Ernest Khosa, briefed the media in Tshwane on Wednesday, where he said the board had accepted the recommendations of the interim report and resolved to implement them.
Khoza said Nsfas will adhere to the findings and the recommendations made by Werksmans Attorneys and Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC on the allegations of irregularities in the funding scheme.
Investigators found Nongogo had actively participated in choosing companies to disburse allowances to beneficiaries from the R47bn fund and the board said it would write to Nongogo and grant him an opportunity to advise on why his contract should not be terminated.
The companies, eZaga Holdings, Coinvest Africa, Norraco Holdings and Tenet Technology, were hired last year following a tender process and there were protracted student protests over allegations of late payments among other complaints.
According to Khoza, the findings in the report noted that there was no feasibility study before the implementation of the direct payment system, particularly the justification for the appointment of the service providers.
The report revealed that Nongogo participated in the presentation of proposals in the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC), which constituted a material violation of NSFAS’s public procurement processes.
The report also highlighted Nongogo’s appointment of Dr Chirwa as a technical advisor to the BEC, which was not in line with the 2021 Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy. Although the 2023 SCM Policy allowed for such appointments, it was seen as a means to rectify the incorrect appointment, said Khosa.
Investigators also found that Chirwa is associated with companies that were appointed as service providers both at the Service SETA and at Nsfas.
“The first [decision] being to write to Mr Andile Nongogo and grant an opportunity to advise on why, in the light of the findings, his contract should not be terminated. We did that yesterday already,” said Khoza.
Khoza said the board had engaged the four companies and informed them of the report and the decision to terminate their contracts.
However, the companies had not been handed their copies of the report, which was also submitted to the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande.
South Africa’s Best Teacher of the Year 2023 Gugu Qwabe’s mantra is ‘the best resource for any school is a motivated educator’.
The English teacher and departmental head of languages at Mandla Mthethwa School of Excellence in Umkhanyakude in KwaZulu Natal should know. She walks the talk.
Qwabe is passionate about educating and grooming future leaders, so much so that she has authored “Applying Ubuntu Principles to Think, Learn and Succeed”, which is expected to come out in six weeks.
The book focuses on practical applications of African values to corporate aims, merging progressive thinking with sustainability models. Qwabe supports using indigenous languages as instruction tools: “It has long been due for Africans to enjoy the fruits of their existence.
“I believe that it is time as a country that we deserve everything others have,” she says while stressing the importance of uBuntu in developing a robust moral code and sense of social responsibility.
“One important value is exhibiting resilience in the process, believing in what you’re doing, and meeting with policymakers,” she says.
Qwabe was named the best South African Teacher at the 23rd National Teacher Awards by Deputy President Paul Mashatile at a ceremony in Pretoria last week.
The National Teacher Awards (NTA) were launched in 2000 and have become one of how the Department of Basic Education (DBE) acknowledges the extraordinary efforts made by excellent teachers, often in harsh conditions.
Qwabe, who’s been teaching for 15 years, expressed her gratitude at being awarded the prize and an appreciation for her seniors for recognising her vision of the humanising transformation of education for learners, especially for marginalised learners within the rural context.
Raised by a single mother who was also a teacher, Qwabe, who has three other siblings, says when she was 12 years old, her mother’s resourcefulness in the face of struggles and their low-income household inspired her.
“My mother did not want me to teach since she was a teacher. She faced so many struggles, and being as innovative and different as I am in a system of conformity, she experienced a lot of resistance,” Qwabe says in an exclusive interview with Inside Education.
After completing her basic education, interrupted by a transfer from a former Model C school to a local public school because of financial constraints, she graduated with a Degree in Psychology and English from UKZN. Then, she transferred to the School of Education, graduating in 2007.
Her teaching career started in one of the poorest schools in the Jozini, uMhlathuze area. She says she taught Life Sciences and English without any formal teaching qualifications simply because of her ‘good English’ in her Grade 12 results.
One of the primary reasons which motivated her to teach in Jozini was that both learners and teachers were making great strides despite the school being heavily under-resourced with poor provision for sanitation.
However, their resilience in facing challenges strengthened Qwabe’s resolve that only passionate educators should be recruited into teaching.
She took the great lessons and inspiration and, in 2009, moved to another school – Amandla Awethu until 2017; she acquired a Postgraduate Certificate in Education before being recruited by a circuit manager who recognised her potential to join the newly formed Mandla Mthethwa School of Excellence (MMSE) in 2018.
The school has its roots in an initiative dating back to 2001 when members of the private sector and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education collaborated to improve the quality of the lives of the people of Ndumo, one of the poorest and under-resourced communities of KwaZulu-Natal.
MMSE Headmaster Dr B.H Mthabela has described the school’s mission as instilling in learners the values such as respect for self and others, level-headedness, self-control and self-discipline, compassion, and embracing others and the environment.
Mthabela said the school was designed primarily to offer the best possible education to learners of Umkhanyakude in particular and those of other parts of KZN and other provinces in general, and Qwabe was a natural fit in the equation at the school that has secured more than 200 distinctions in its existence.
Qwabe’s clarion call is for more teachers who are emotionally, morally and ideologically invested in ensuring equal and quality education for all children.
“We need more good people in our society; we need more people to stand up for the right things. Our learners need to grow up in healthy spaces”.
Qwabe, as an award winner, has been automatically entered into the African Union Continental Teachers Award of 2023/2024.
Mashatile, in his keynote address, acknowledged that teaching is a labour of love and passion and highlighted the importance of ensuring that all learners in the country have effective and adequate access to education.
“Acknowledging that teaching is a labour of love and passion, as Government, we are committed to reinforcing teacher support and prioritising the professional growth of the women and men who are key drivers of basic education,” Mashatile said.
To boost rugby at the school, former Springbok rugby fly half and media personality Naas Botha has been appointed Director of Rugby at Hoërskool Eldoraigne.
The former Blue Bulls great started work last week to inspire youngsters and unearth new talent.
A familiar face on local television as a commentator, Botha once coached Tukkies to Varsity Cup success. He also managed the junior Springboks.
Botha brings rich rugby knowledge and more than four decades of experience to Hoërskool Eldoraigne.
THE Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), an entity of the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in collaboration with Sol Plaatje University, marked International Translation Day in the Northern Cape last week.
The annual International Translation Day event occurred on Thursday, 12 October 2023, at the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature in Kimberly.
The event aimed to promote linguistic diversity and multilingualism by advocating for the use of translation and interpreting services. It also paid tribute to the work of translators, terminologists, interpreters, and language practitioners who break down language barriers and allow great literature to be enjoyed far more widely.
The 2023 International Translation Day is observed under the theme “Translation unveils the many faces of humanity”. This theme aims to encourage language practice students to use their languages to preserve their cultures and histories.
The event highlighted technological innovations that have taken translations to a much higher and more sophisticated level. This includes the Human Language Technologies funded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
These advancements support translators’ work by providing them with computer-generated translations, glossaries, and translation memories. This facilitates speed, consistency, and, ultimately, high-quality work.
The International Translation Day observation forms part of the continued efforts of the institution to emphasise that the operations of translation and language practice, in general, are constantly evolving to respond to the changing environment.
