A 21-year-old grade 11 learner has been arrested on charges of murder, following the death of a
fellow learner.

According to police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo, the deceased learner was fatally stabbed during a fight in Vlakfontein, Johannesburg.

“Preliminary information suggests that a group of boys were fighting outside the school premises on Thursday, November 17, 2022, when a 20-year-old learner was stabbed with a sharp object on the upper body. The learner was taken to the nearest medical care centre, where he was certified dead.”

“Police went searching for the suspects and arrested a fellow learner, who has since been charged with murder. The motive for the fight cannot be confirmed at this stage. An investigation is underway,” Masondo said.

The 21-year-old is expected to appear in the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court on a date yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, the Gauteng Education MEC, Matome Chiloane, visited the family of the deceased
on Saturday.

The Gauteng Education Department has appealed to the community not to disrupt schooling and
teaching “as our Grade 12 learners are still in the process of writing their final exams.”

The department’s psychosocial team has been deployed to visit the school to provide the
necessary support and counselling.

“We wish to convey our sincerest condolences to the learner’s family and the school community at large,” the department said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Haley McEwen and Dennis A. Francis

ADVOCACY groups in South Africa are intensifying their efforts to prevent the country’s education department from creating safer environments for children of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. Some of the advocacy groups have ties to conservative US Christian groups.

Representing conservative organisations, Freedom of Religion South Africa, the Family Policy Institute, the African Christian Democratic Party and Freedom Front Plus are creating controversy about draft guidelines on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. The guidelines have been made public through consultations with communities that began earlier this year.

The groups are zeroing in on two elements of the guidelines to stoke panic. These are the provision of unisex toilets, which would not replace existing single-sex toilets, and the elimination of gender pronouns.

Claiming the guidelines are “godless” and “anti-family”, the groups argue that the rights of Christian learners and their families would be violated. The groups claim their opposition is grounded in religious belief, not hatred for LGBTIQ+ people.

But their objections contradict South Africa’s constitutional mandate to create a society free of discrimination.

In a media statement, the education department has expressed its disappointment that the narrow focus on unisex toilets is being used to create controversy. This distracts from the bigger debate about eliminating gender discrimination in all spheres of society.

Homophobia and transphobia on the rise

Researchers and journalists have documented increases in incidents of homophobic and transphobic bullying in the country’s schools in recent years. Some children facing discrimination have tragically taken their own lives.

Disinformation campaigns claim that gender diverse learners pose a threat to cisgender (straight-identifying) female learners. But research shows that it’s queer and transgender individuals who experience extreme levels of anxiety and fear within bathrooms and other school spaces.

The lobby against queer-friendly education

Last year, the African Christian Democratic Party staged a picket against the guidelines. Placards read “Down with the gender identity and sexual orientation guidelines”, “Down with unisex bathrooms” and “God created male and female”.

Freedom of Religion South Africa is now attempting to block the implementation of the guidelines through legal means. The organisation claims they are unconstitutional and violate “parental rights” and “traditional values”.

Claims like this normalise the discrimination that many learners face in schools.

Freedom of Religion South Africa director Michael Swain claims the department is importing “foreign” agendas. His group aims to put religious freedom above the right to equality and dignity. US Christian anti-LGBTIQ+ advocacy groups, such as Alliance Defending Freedom, have tried to do the same.

The Family Policy Institute in South Africa has been working with US “hate group” Family Watch International in a campaign against Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools. They plan to “reveal harmful content” in the programme and call it “dangerous sexual indoctrination”.

Family Policy Institute founder Errol Naidoo has admitted to having been mentored by the US Christian
right Family Research Council. The council argues that homosexuality is “harmful to society at large” and
should not be protected by policy. Naidoo has also been associated with the World Congress of Families,
a US-led Christian right organisation.

Our research shows that US Christian right organisations have grown their networks in African countries.

They’ve invested millions of dollars in anti-LGBTIQ+ campaigns in Africa and elsewhere. They also provide “mentorship” to set up organisations and campaigns such as Stop CSE.

A global trend

Campaigning against the department’s guidelines for safer learning spaces reflects a broader trend. Far
right actors are using child protection rhetoric to manufacture moral panic. Making it “about children”
enables anti-gender groups to air their prejudice in public. This tactic has also been observed in Europe
and Latin America.

Our research has found that far-right attitudes to LGBTIQ+ people are becoming part of the “normal
view” in basic and higher education. We argue that homophobic and transphobic bullying in these
spaces extends South Africa’s apartheid-era discrimination, which was grounded in Christian ideology.

These narratives claim that LGBTIQ+ learners are “deviant”, “unruly sinners” in need of conversion and
civilising. This creates a climate of fear and hostility in classrooms and communities more broadly.

Research with teachers shows that a lack of guidance from the department on the creation of inclusive
curricula and school environments puts the safety and security of gender diverse and queer learners at
risk. It also undermines the promise of equality in South Africa’s constitution.

As the Global Interfaith Network has demonstrated, Christianity is not an inherently homophobic or
transphobic religion. Those who use religious justifications to promote anti-LGBTIQ+ intolerance do not
represent all Christian communities. The weaponisation of sexuality and gender-based differences in
schools has consequences for all learners whose life opportunities are threatened by the experiences of
discrimination, exclusion and bullying.

THE CONVERSATION

Universities in Africa must strive to produce about 100,000 PhDs in the next 10 years to yield the research the continent needs for accelerated development.

According to the recommendation, which came from the World Bank, universities should aim to produce a higher number of researchers in response to the need to create jobs and opportunities for the continent’s fast-growing population, as well as the challenges it faces in areas such as climate change, diseases, food security and political instability.

The 100,000 must not be seen as a huge number, considering that China, with a population that is nearly the same as that of Africa, manages to produce that number each year, as does the United States, which has an even lower population, said Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, the vice-chancellor of Uganda’s Makerere University.

What Africa needs, he said, is not to be content with the target set, but to aim, instead, to produce an even higher number of researchers considering the enormous developmental challenges posed by a projected youth explosion in the next 30 years.

“The report we have launched today gives pointers as to why Africa needs more and more PhDs,” said Nawangwe, who is also the chairman of the African Research Universities Alliance, or ARUA, during the launch of member universities’ institutional profiles on 4 November.

ARUA is a network of 16 selected flagship research universities in Africa with a common vision to expand and significantly enhance the quality of research carried out by African researchers. The network has been operational since March 2015, when it was inaugurated in Dakar, Senegal.

Research report

The report, which is being updated with additional information before it will be shared with stakeholders, presents an analysis of Phase II of the Carnegie Corporation-sponsored data benchmarking study of ARUA universities, focusing on the research profiles of the universities, and covers the period 2015-21, including a bibliometric analysis of the research productivity of the universities.

Universities, Nawangwe observed, continued to grapple with the challenge of low funding despite the task ahead of them, a problem he traced to the 1990s when Structural Adjustment Programmes or SAPs, were imposed on Africa by the Bretton Woods institutions.

The SAPs in some cases led to “commercialisation of programmes” as universities sought to survive financial cuts prescribed by the lenders.

“The effects of the cuts have been devastating ever since, and it’s a shame that, despite Africa holding 20% of the world’s population, is only contributing 3% of global knowledge, which is not acceptable,” he said.

Doctorate training in Africa must, however, be seen as much more than mere research productivity, but also a driver of development, said Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town.

In many instances, she noted, it had emerged that universities with a high number of PhD-level academics did not always produce the highest research output.

The institutional profile report, she observed, provided a good opportunity for universities to “know each other”, while offering potential partners a true picture of what the institutions have to offer.

Equity in partnerships

The report, which covered a range of issues, had demonstrated the invaluable importance of investing in long-term relationships between universities, as opposed to merely collaborating on specific projects, said Sir Anton Muscatelli, the vice-chancellor of the United Kingdom’s University of Glasgow.

It also emphasised the importance of equity in research partnerships for the collaborations to be effective and successful, particularly the North-South ones.

“I’m proud of the ARUA universities’ contribution to Gobal South in various partnerships with the University of Glasgow. I’m happy we are providing solutions to some of the challenges that are ahead for Africa,” he added, with reference to past joint work with ARUA’s universities of Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, among others, in tropical diseases research.

Vice-chancellors of the 16 member universities had an opportunity to learn from the report on areas that needed strengthening, information they should share with their respective councils, said Professor Ernest Aryeetey, the ARUA secretary-general.

The report not only offered them an opportunity to know their weaknesses and work on them, he said, but also a chance for doing a comparison for purposes of benchmarking and knowing where they needed to go in the future.

It also proved that the institutions needed to be “engaged with each other and within their region” if they were to become “globally competitive”, he added.

• Stellenbosch University in South Africa has announced that it will award an honorary doctorate to Professor Ernest Aryeetey in December. Aryeetey will be awarded the degree Doctor of Commerce (DCom), honoris causa. He is the former vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana and, in addition to having been instrumental in the establishment of ARUA, he has spearheaded the identification of 13 research areas to facilitate interdisciplinary research collaboration and created 11 ARUA centres of excellence. Aryeetey is also a member of the University World News – Africa board.

University World News

IN support of the World Children’s Day theme: ‘equality and inclusion for every child’, Ashling McCarthy, founder of education non-profit, I Learn To Live- Ngifundela Ukuphila, encourages society to invest in educational opportunities for all children, including youth from rural communities.

I Learn To Live was founded in 2010 to provide education opportunities to school children and youth in rural Zululand. 

“We believe that rural children and youth should be given an opportunity to create a meaningful life, in which they contribute towards their community and society at large,” said McCarthy.

In May 2021, I Learn To Live launched the first Coding and Robotics Club in the rural areas lying between Empangeni and Richards Bay, providing these children with the opportunity to engage in the push towards 4IR and tech-related careers.

“Ten children from the community were selected to participate in the pilot programme, which took place at the Ngqamuzane Support Centre on Saturdays, where children aged nine to 15 were introduced to Arduino, an open-source electronics platform which uses both software (coding) and hardware (sensor kits). This year, 20 children attend the Saturday classes, which now include music sessions, with children learning the drums, keyboards and sight-reading,” explained McCarthy.

With the success of the pilot, I Learn To Live sought to expand the programme into the community. An ICT resource audit done at primary schools in the neighbouring communities revealed a dire lack of infrastructure to run computer-based programmes.

“Maqhwakazi Primary School had a functional but unused computer lab. In collaboration with the principal and parents of grade five to seven pupils, 60 children were selected to attend an after-school Coding and Robotics Club,” continued McCarthy.

I Learn To Live’s coding and robotics programme is aligned with the KZN Department of Educations’ focus on introducing coding and robotics to children in foundation phase in 2023. It also meets Sustainable Development Goal #4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The programme is specifically run as a free afternoon extra-curricular club for interested pupils. I Learn To Live facilitates the sessions, which includes equipment and data.

Arduino online training manuals are tailored for a rural school context, which factors in implementation challenges such as the limited resources and electricity that often runs out. It also takes into consideration that English is not the learners’ first language, so is taught in both English and isiZulu.

“The programme first tackles the basics of computers as most, if not all pupils have no computer experience. Only then are pupils introduced to coding and robotics. Grade five pupils start with block code in the form of Scratch 4 Arduino, which also uses hardware components, while grade six and seven pupils move straight into Arduino, working with sensor kits and coding,” she stated.

I Learn To Live is developing a training programme so that youth studying coding can implement similar coding and robotics clubs in their communities. “In 2023, we will be adding a meal for each child, who attends the programme as most of these children’s last meal was at breakfast time,” confirmed McCarthy.

If you would like more information or would like to support the I Learn To Live coding and robotics programme, contact Phumlani Zungu on 073-337-5226 or Ashling McCarthy on 072-432-0316.

Alternatively, email ash@ilearntolive.co.za or visit www.ilearntolive.co.za

McCarthy encourages citizens to embrace and support the 2022 theme for International Children’s Day, ‘equality and inclusion for every child’ now and into the future.

“The answer to many rural challenges, can be answered by our youth. Our role is to provide them with opportunities, skills, and most importantly, the belief to do so,” she concluded.

RISING SUN