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Cows Take Over Classrooms Ahead Of School’s Opening

Charles Molele
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Cows Take Over Classrooms Ahead Of School’s Opening

SANDILE MOTHA

FRUSTRATED school principals in northern KwaZulu Natal have revealed that they have not received any stock from the department and that instead cattle have turned classrooms into their safe refuge. In some of the images in possession of Inside Education, cow dung can been seen in some classes as livestock roam the school yard all day long.

The images also depict broken desks and dilapidated ablution facilities.

“As I speak to you classes have not been cleaned or disinfected, we have not received anything. I communicate regularly with the district responsible, the only response I get is that they are organising transport to deliver the supplies,” said one disgruntled principal.

His anguish was corroborated by another principal who told Inside Educationthat his school has no water supply or proper toilets.

“Our case is worse because we do not have reliable water supply. We have a single water tank to cater for about 600 learners and the truck which supplies us with water only comes once a week. Health and sanitation is our concern because the only toilet we have is shared by teachers. Other mobile toilets for learner’s use have filled up and has not been emptied since last year,” he lamented.

SADTU provincial secretary NomaRussia Caluza said less than 20 schools in KwaZulu-Natal stands ready to reopen for the 2020 academic intervention programme and the majority of them are schools previously classified as Model C.

“We did our own research and consulted our leaders in different districts and we arrived at a conclusion that schools are not ready to accept teachers and leaners. Water tanks have not been delivered to schools where they don’t have any water supply. Besides this, protective equipment is not sufficient and disinfectants and other crucial supplies have not been delivered, said Caluza.

Caluza said the process can take up to a month to complete as there must be an audit and verification process to match the items delivered versus the ratio of teachers and leaners at a school. 

On Sunday, KwaZulu -Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala announced a U-turn on the provinces’ initial plan to reopen schools for all academic staff which was scheduled for Monday this week.

This sudden change of heart, Zikalala said, was as a result of a delay in the delivery of the supplies such as sanitizers and protective clothing from the districts to schools.

He said the provincial cabinet had instead resolved that academic staff will go back to schools on Thursday this week.

Last week, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the reopening of schools from June 1 as the country enters level 3 lockdown ease off.

Motshega’s call came after the National Corona Virus Command Council and cabinet gave green light for the systematic reopening of schools.

Motshekga insisted that safety and health protocols will be prioritised. Matric pupils and those in Grade 7 were given priority as the first cohort of pupils to receive attention. 

Chaos At Schools As Teachers Stay Away

Charles Molele
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Chaos At Schools As Teachers Stay Away

NYAKALLO TEFU, MASHUDU SADIKE, LUCAS LEDWABA, SANDILE MOTHA AND THEBE MABANGA

Over 65% of teachers, including principals and school management teams, did not show up at schools on Monday following calls by teachers’ unions to stay away over coronavirus fears and lack of personal protective equipment in provinces.

According to Muguena Maluleke, the General Secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, the majority of teachers stayed away because the Department of Basic Education failed to deliver personal protective equipment (PPEs) at various provinces across the country, saying it’s too risky for everyone and could cause a spike in infections.

“In brief I can say due to the fact that schools have not been cleaned and that there was no delivery of materials, not all schools have really had a good attendance,” said Maluleke.

 “What we are seeing is a situation where the departmental officials and the minister do not believe that the virus is still around, that is why they are not taking the issue of the safety and health of the workers and learners seriously.”

Maluleke said the majority of teachers in provinces simply did not pitch because it is not yet safe to do so.

“In Limpopo no one attended because the schools are not cleaned. In Gauteng only principals and not the SMT’s, in certain instances we went to schools and found that the schools were not cleaned. In North West if there is attendance, it’s very few schools,” said Maluleke.  

“In KZN no school is working, they are just delivering material at schools. The department has hired some trucks to deliver those materials to schools. In the Eastern Cape, principals are there but not all schools to receive PPEs. In the Free State the same.”

SADTU, the biggest union in the education and public service sector, also said it was unlikely that schools will be ready to accept learners on the 1st of June.

The decision not to report for duty comes after Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced last week that teachers would start returning from 25 May, meaning they will have a week to prepare before the first learners arrive back at schools on the 1st of June.

The move by Motshekga has since drawn the ire of teachers’ unions, parents associations and civil society organizations.

The unions, parents associations and civil society organizations say they are unconvinced by Motshekga’s plan to re-open schools because it is simply not safe and feasible to implement at this stage.

The coronavirus outbreak forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to close all schools on March 18 as part of government measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.

NAPTOSA’s President Basil Manuel said many schools in the country have not been sanitized and their members were unable to receive PPEs as promised by the minister.

“We are not happy because in fact some of our members have been sitting and waiting the entire day at the school and nothing has arrived, they can’t even go in because some schools have not been sanitized,” said Manuel.

“The North West Province seems to have done a lot more today than they have ever done.  KwaZulu Natal seems to be moving but at a slow pace. The Eastern Cape and Free State is covering a large section but still far from completion. The Northern Cape is battling to get out its starting blocks. When it comes to Gauteng the vast majority of schools have their PPEs but there are a lot of schools that haven’t been cleaned yet, same applies to the Western Cape.”

National Teachers Union president Allen Thompson said they have told their members not to return to work on Monday.

“What is important to note is that in KwaZulu Natal they have postponed the return of teachers until Thursday this week. In other provinces they have postponed indefinitely, like Mpumalanga. There is an official circular that has been released that says teacher must stay at home until further notice,” said Thompson.  

“COVID-19 is exposing the problems that educators a faced with throughout their schooling system.  Some schools don’t have windows or doors. There was no proper delivery of hygiene and sanitation material. In Gauteng, we visited almost 52 schools at the weekend and the majority of schools where the hygiene and sanitation material were delivered you find that they were not enough.”

State of readiness in provinces as of Monday 25 May 2020

KWAZULU NATAL PROVINCE

Less than 20 schools in KwaZulu -Natal stand ready to reopen for the 2020 academic intervention programme and the majority of them are schools previously classified as Model C.

This is a shocking revelation by the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) recapping on the school’s state of readiness where teaching and learning is expected to resume next week after a two months forced closure. 

“We did our own research and consulted our leaders in different districts and we arrived at a conclusion that schools are not ready to accept teachers and leaners. Water tanks have not been delivered to schools where they don’t have any water supply. Besides this, protective equipment is not sufficient and disinfectants and other crucial supplies have not been delivered,” said Sadtu provincial secretary NomaRussia Caluza.

Caluza said the process can take up to a month to complete as there must be an audit and verification process to match the items delivered against the ratio of teachers and leaners at a school. 

On Sunday, KwaZulu -Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala announced a u-turn on the provinces’s initial plan to reopen schools for all academic staff which was scheduled for Monday this week. This sudden change of heart, Zikalala said, was as a result of a delay in the delivery of the supplies such as sanitisers and protective clothing from the districts to schools. He said the provincial cabinet had instead resolved that academic staff will go back to schools on Thursday this week.

Caluza however said this plan was impractical as only 20 schools were ready.

“We will monitor and make our own assessment before pronouncing whether to go back to school or not. The schools who stand ready are less than 20 in the province and they used their own money to purchase the required supplies. These schools are former Model C schools, other schools are far from ready,” added Caluza.

Caluza’s call was also supported by another teacher union, the National Teachers Union (Natu) who said they had encouraged their members never to set foot in schools where health and safety protocols has not been implemented.

LIMPOPO PROVINCE

Limpopo school principals have been left frustrated on Monday following disorder in the government’s delivery of PPE’s ahead of the school’s reopening, after being temporarily closed for nearly two months due to the COVID-19 virus.

Feedback on the ground has painted a bleak picture for the resumption of schools as PPE’s availability suggested massive challenges for the province which has had headmasters across the province in a panic.

By 10 am this morning Masebudi High School, Bokamoso High and Phoshoko Primary in Seshego, outside Polokwane, had still not received all the PPEs required for the resumption of schooling in contrast of the government’s promise to have delivered by Monday morning.

Almost 40 000 teachers are expected to  resume work in Limpopo following Motshekga’s announcement last week.

School management teams that include principals were set to resume their duties to prepare for the teachers arrival tomorrow, but spent most of the morning waiting for the arrival of PPEs when they were eventually informed to receive PPE’s from Capricorn High School in town.

“This must be the worst welcome back to school ever. The Department looks to be in disarray across the province. I’ve been told there is no school that has received all the PPEs required. How am I to explain that to the teachers and the Unions who have to come back to work tomorrow?” said one principal, who preferred to stay anonymous.

SADTU has made it clear that if PPEs were not delivered by Monday teachers would not be reporting for duty.

 “In our view, the province is not ready for the re-opening of schools. We will gather evidence regarding the state of readiness by the department. The province will develop a non-negotiable check-list on a daily basis and if we satisfied we will release the teachers to go to work,” Said Sadtu Limpopo in a statement.

Spokesperson for the Limpopo Department of Education, Tidimalo Chuene said while the department understood their concerns the department was doing its best to get the classes ready for the resumption of schooling.

“All is in order so far as the PPEs we have been expecting have arrived and will be delivered to the schools, Teaches should be ready to return to school tomorrow,” Chuene said.

GAUTENG PROVINCE

Lyndhurst primary school was one of the schools Inside Education passed by on Monday morning, where staff could be seen sitting in a circle, adhering to social distancing regulations while having a meeting.

Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi on Monday visited Bryanston High School in Johannesburg to check the state of readiness at the school.

“The school must receive Personal Protective Equipment first and then they can invite teachers to come back, so they might come back today or even tomorrow”, said Lesufi.

Lesufi said there are teacher unions who are advising their members not to report for duty if there are no PPEs.

 “What is encouraging is that we have met all of them, we have agreed on a process and where they are encouraging their members not to come, we do not think it is a serious matter because a it is due to PPE’s and that will be dealt with,” said Lesufi.

Lesufi said the school was not yet open for contact teaching and learning but all learners will be accommodated.

“If there are parents who want to home school their children, we are making that provision for them, we have shifted the closing date for applications for home schooling to September 2020”, said Lesufi.

He added that parents will be offered assistant in how to go about with home schooling.

Thabo Nyoni, a principal at Phulong Secondary School in Kwa Thema, says he has started receiving PPEs and is awaiting decontamination services. The equipment he has received includes masks, soaps and sanitizers, thermometer and is currently sufficient for management.

Nyoni is expecting delivery for staff in the next few days before two masks each for learners are delivered before the end of the month.  Of five schools visited or contacted by Inside Education, two have been contaminated over the weekend and started receiving equipment while two more have taken delivery of equipment. Only one had not received equipment or deep cleaned upon being contacted on Monday mid morning.  

UFS And UP Data Scientists Use Accurate Data To Fight COVID-19 Pandemic

Charles Molele
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UFS And UP Data Scientists Use Accurate Data To Fight COVID-19 Pandemic

NYAKALLO TEFU

DATA scientist and research coordinator at the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with his supervisor at the University of Pretoria (UP), are at the forefront of the fight against the virus with accurate data and analysis.

This comes as scientists and researches attempt to figure out how to win the fight against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Herkulaas Combrink of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the UFS and PhD candidate in Computer Science at the UP, said accurate data is important to prevent widespread panic and sensationalism during a global disaster such as the current pandemic.

“I along with colleagues have been able to progress significantly in terms of evidence-based tools to assist provincial and national decision-makers during these turbulent times”, said Combrink.

The team of colleagues include the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA, the provincial office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provincial clinicians, and the Free State Department of Health led by Dr David Motau.

Combrink says the project they are currently working on includes a provincial database for screening and monitoring and a data pipeline and assembly of hospital information flow, liaised with the NICD, Vodacom, and the different district managers to ensure that the pipeline occurs in a timely manner.

It further includes the digitized paper-based capturing tools for rapid data capturing and processing, incorporated state-of-the-art visualization tools to action data into useful information for decision-makers in certain areas and provided both provincial and national projections, stress testing different scenarios using a variety of statistical, computational, and/or machine-learning approaches to add to the already existing projections of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

“It does come at a cost, though, in that we have worked continuously since the lockdown, dedicating all our time and efforts to the department from all over to ensure that we are not part of some of the global statistics we have seen,” said Combrink.

Britain Divided Over Reopening Schools As Virus Rules Ease

Charles Molele
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Britain Divided Over Reopening Schools As Virus Rules Ease

DAVID WAUGH is putting down barrier tape and spraying yellow lines on the ground outside the main door of his school near Manchester.

Waugh, who oversees five schools in northwestern England, already has painted yellow arrows to ensure that children follow a one-way path around the building when they return next month from an extended break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Soft furniture and play equipment have been cordoned off, and desks have been spread apart. Waugh has stocked up on 7,500 face masks, hundreds of pairs of gloves, hand sanitizer and other supplies.

“The government says we don’t need them, but I certainly couldn’t have risked not having them,” he said. “It’s the unknown, the utter unknown. We’re taking baby steps forward at the moment, trying to win the hearts and minds of parents and teachers.”

Since March 20, the coronavirus has forced British schools to close to all but a small number of key workers’ children and those under social care. The government wants children to start returning to primary schools in stages from June 1.

Those going back first include the youngest — ages four to six. Daycare providers also have been told to start welcoming back babies and toddlers from June.

The reopening has divided the country and faced vehement opposition from teachers unions, which say it’s too risky for everyone and could cause a spike in infections. Dozens of local authorities have refused to follow the reopening timetable. Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have their own governments, are not opening schools until August at the earliest.

Worried parents are texting each other the same question: “Are you sending your kid back?”

Justine Roberts, who founded parenting website Mumsnet, said the decision to send the youngest children back first is “causing bafflement and some anger, and a suspicion that decisions are being driven by the need to get people back to work.”

Teachers union NASUWT cited a poll of 29,000 members that suggested only five percent think the plan is safe. Other unions have told members not to engage with planning for an early June opening.

Mary Bousted, joint leader of the National Education Union, said the plan is “simply not safe, it is not fair, it is not feasible.”

Unions say they are unconvinced by the scientific evidence on the topic published by the government. They also want the tracking and tracing system for those infected to be in place first.

Charlotte Smith, whose 14-year-old son is unaffected by the plan, joined a small protest of the reopening Thursday in Manchester. She didn’t believe administrators have thought through how to work out social distancing “that isn’t damaging to kids.”

“There’s absolutely no way I would want my kid to go into an environment that’s psychologically damaging for them,” she said. “We need to rethink education and we can’t do that in two weeks.”

In its guidance to schools, the Education Department said face masks are not recommended in schools, and acknowledged that young children can’t be expected to keep the two-meter (six-foot) social-distancing guidelines. It said class sizes should be halved and limited to a maximum of 15, and that children should be separated into the same small groups.

Waugh’s school group, the True Learning Partnership in Cheshire, is doing that and more.

He is planning to split students into “mini school” zones, each with separate entrances, daily timetables and play areas. Meals will be delivered to classrooms. Teachers’ desks will be two-meter “exclusion zones” ringed off with tape. Even the cutlery will be assigned to separate groups.

It’s “more than feasible” to make schools safe, he said, even if it’s a “logistical nightmare.”

English schools will be following those in Denmark, Germany, France and elsewhere that are easing restrictions. Proponents say the effect of being away from the classroom has been felt keenly by the most disadvantaged families.

A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies said school closures will almost certainly increase educational inequality. Wealthier children are spending 30 percent more time on home learning during lockdown — about 5.8 hours a day — than those in poorer families and have access to better resources like online tutors, it found.

Working parents, too, are increasingly frustrated about working from home with children. Sarah Hesz, a mother of three, says that after considering the risks, she plans to send her five-year-old back to school next month.

“People are so torn, worried and confused about what is best,” said Hesz, who works for a childcare app. “There is a massive part of me that want my kids to be learning again, to be with their friends again. At the moment, it’s just impossible. I can’t home school my kids and work.”

But it’s a tough sell for many, and one key concern is the risk of infection from children to adults. The confusion was highlighted when the doctors union, the British Medical Association, first backed teachers who oppose a June 1 reopening, only to change its stance days later.

The BMA said Wednesday that while there was growing evidence that the virus risk to children is extremely small, there is conflicting evidence about the likelihood of children spreading it to others.

“A zero-risk approach is not possible,” it concluded. “This is about ‘safe’ being an acceptable level of risk.”

Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, acknowledged that data on how infectious children are is “pretty sparse.”

“There are significant welfare and wellbeing issues for children who are out [of school] months and months on end. It’s delicate and difficult, and I accept that,” he said.

Jane Cooper, who teaches older children at Lostock Hall Primary School, said she was looking forward to seeing her pupils again. She knows the new normal won’t be easy, especially for younger children who want to cuddle or hold hands.

“We can’t really sit next to children and teach them as we normally do, it’s not as hands-on teaching,” she said, adding that her students “will understand it, but the little ones won’t be able to, and that’s a bit sad really.”

(Source: Associated Press)

Top Limpopo Researchers Nominated for the National Science and Technology Forum Awards

Charles Molele
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Top Limpopo Researchers Nominated for the National Science and Technology Forum Awards

NYAKALLO TEFU

Three researchers are flying the University of Limpopo’s flag high after they were nominated for this year’s National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Awards, for their commendable research, development and innovation.

The NSTF awards were established in 1998 as a collaborative effort to recognize outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation by SET-related professionals and organizations in South Africa.

Prof Kingsley Ayisi, director of the Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre has been nominated in the NSTF-Lewis Foundation Green Economy Award category, for achieving biodiversity conservation environmental sustainability and a greener economy over the past 5 to 10 years.

Prof Salome Mamokome Mahlo, head of Ethno-medicinal Plants Laboratory in the Department of Biodiversity (Botany) has been nominated for the TW Kambule-NSTF Award in three categories: Researcher, Data for Researcher, and Special Annual Theme, for finding innovative solutions to plant health challenges, including Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), directed towards South Africa’s sustainable development.

Prof Johannes Maree, Professor of Water and Sanitation has been nominated for the Lifetime Award, for the successful development and diffusion of new or improved products, treatment processes and management strategies of water and sanitation issues for at least fifteen years.

The awards also recognize experienced scientists, engineers, innovators, science communicators, engineering capacity builders, organizational managers and leaders as well as data and research managers.

The awards are expected to take place later this year.

Education Post-COVID-19: Customised Blended Learning is Urgently Needed

Charles Molele
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Education Post-COVID-19: Customised Blended Learning is Urgently Needed

PROFESSOR WERNER OLIVIER

Many well-meaning education benefactors and commentators in South Africa have expressed that in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic online self-guided learning could solve some of the current teaching problems and address the educational backlog. What learners need, the reasoning goes, is to get free internet access to educational support materials on offer online.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, self-guided online learning is doomed to fail. Research shows an exceptionally high drop-out rate – even in developed countries. Learners simply have no incentive to keep at their studies without peer pressure, a teacher at hand or a structured learning environment.

In South Africa in particular, with socio-economic disparities and related problems, the drop-out rate would be even higher.

More so in key subjects like mathematics and physical science where prior knowledge, conceptual understanding and self-motivation to succeed are critical.

Self-guided online learning is doomed to fail. Research shows an exceptionally high drop-out rate – even in developed countries. Learners simply have no incentive to keep at their studies without peer pressure, a teacher at hand or a structured learning environment

The only answer, in the country’s unequal teaching environment, is a customised version of blended learning. Blended learning integrates computer-assisted online activities with traditional face-to-face teaching (chalk-and-talk).

When used by a trained teacher, this approach can add valuable new dimensions to the learning process. It can allow learners to work at their own pace and teachers to fill content gaps.

Blended learning in South Africa

In many developed countries, blended learning is a well-established practice. It has enabled these countries to adapt to the demands of the current pandemic. Digital remote learning and teaching is backed up by dependable infrastructure and skilled, motivated teachers.

By contrast, the differences between South African schools have been thrown into sharp relief. The binary system of a privileged minority of schools and the rest remains, despite the political changes more than 25 years ago.

More than 80% of public schools are under-resourced. They are ill-equipped to respond to the teaching and learning challenges of the 21st century – let alone the latest demands of the pandemic.

The current lockdown has suddenly compelled teachers to adopt predominantly online, blended learning teaching practices. But nearly 90% of all households in South Africa are still without access to the internet at home. Very few schools had adapted to blended learning before lockdown and few schools would be able to adopt it during the lockdown. Therefore the schools that had fewer resources and skills will fall even further behind.

This is especially disappointing since the current cohort of pupils (born after 2000) have long expressed their preference for a blended learning model. Even the recent recognition by the South African government that science, technology, engineering and mathematics are important in the Fourth Industrial Revolution has had little effect on the skills development of teachers, infrastructure or modernisation of resources in schools.

Therefore, in the South African context, mainstream blended learning is not the complete answer. We need to go beyond blended learning.

Customised blended learning model

Since 2002, the Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre in Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth has wrestled with these challenges.

The bad news is that there’s no way to make the teaching and learning of maths and science easy. But we’ve developed a number of interventions that have lifted the twin burdens of poor training and lack of infrastructure from the shoulders of teachers. Skills development linked to the use of user-friendly and interactive digital resources has allowed teachers to focus on attaining a high quality of teaching with subsequent learning successes.

Over the past decade, the centre has experimented with various combinations of online and offline self-directed teaching methods. It has worked specifically on blended learning for mathematics and physical sciences in secondary schools.

The greatest success has been a blended learning system that uses a combination of online and offline interactive resources with pre-installed apps that are aligned with the South African school curriculum. These can be used as a guide for teaching, home-schooling, after-school study and tutoring. We call it techno-blended learning: a structured approach, using mostly offline apps in an integrated way, with the full participation of a trained or experienced adult mentor or guide.
One of the centre’s more recent interventions is a mini personal computer called the GammaTutor™. This’s an offline device pre-loaded with interactive learning material. These resources have been specifically designed for South African school conditions.

The GammaTutor™ software package is primarily intended for teachers: when plugged into any data projector, a TV or digital screen, it doubles as a flexible maths and science teaching assistant in the classroom and a learner support resource for after school hours. It fits in the palm of a hand, requires no data and is navigated by the click of a mouse. Its small size makes the device easy to keep safe and to take where it’s needed.

What needs to be done

It’s well known that major educational challenges exist in schools as a result of the country’s multi-language society – particularly in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The GammaTutor™ application offers mathematics concept explanations in eight indigenous languages.

The device covers the full curriculum for high school maths and physical sciences, presented in video, PDF or animated PowerPoint format – along with glossaries, exam revision support, translations from English into indigenous languages and many additional teaching support materials. It can be used for interactive teaching online and remotely.

The response from teachers, learners and stakeholders to this approach of teaching and learning has been overwhelmingly positive. Where these interventions have been applied, in pilot schools in the Eastern Cape province, the results have been gratifying. Marks have improved significantly and successful learners have been able to progress to university.

The new urgency for remote teaching caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for the country to adopt policies to accelerate blending learning practices among teachers and learners. The Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre offers lessons learned through more than a decade of research.

(Werner Olivier, Professor in Mathematics and Director: Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre, Nelson Mandela University)

(Source: The Conversation)

Gauteng’s Top Science Teacher Moreki Mosuane Adds Cool To Learning And Teaching

Charles Molele
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Gauteng’s Top Science Teacher Moreki Mosuane Adds Cool To Learning And Teaching

CLASSROOM CORNER

Teacher of the Week: Moreki Ancell Mosuane

School: Lufhereng Secondary School, Doornkop, Gauteng Province

Moreki Ancell Mosuane, a Natural Sciences school teacher, did not intend to become a teacher but had a change of heart in 2011 when he received funding from the Department of Basic Education.

“It was during my first year of training when I discovered that I had a hidden passion for teaching,” said Mosuane, who won the excellence in teaching natural sciences award at Gauteng’s National Teachers Awards in October.

That took him back to the days where he used to take a role of a teacher when the educator was not in class.

He enjoys teaching the subject because it sparks curiosity and the content always changes due to new discoveries and inventions.

“I cannot wait to see some of the learners graduating and pursuing their careers even as Natural Science specialists.”

Being in a rural area and working in an extremely poor community where the majority of learners are faced with harsh socio-economic circumstances is one of the barriers at its own.

Therefore as a teacher he plays multiple roles while teaching in class.

“I am not only a teacher but a part time counsellor, guardian and a parent.”

With the high number of learners at his school, he is always prepared to adapt and treat all the learners according to their needs.

“It is therefore important to be an empathetic listener so that learners can communicate freely and it makes them to learn with ease.”

He believes that all teachers are sufficiently trained and are experts in their respective subjects.

However teachers are subjected and assigned from the different working conditions and circumstances.

“I had problems and challenges but with the suitable strategies and solutions to solve them and create a positive, conducive learning and teaching environment.”

Complementing his participation in the NTAs, Mosuane believes that it is always good to see your hard work being recognised and acknowledged.

This will encouraged him to work even harder and inspire others to join the teaching sector.

He plans to be an ambassador of the NTA and encourage other teachers to participate in the program.

“I have seen the impact it does on teachers’ ethics and the standards of our profession.”

Advocate Mojanku Gumbi Appointed University of Venda’s First Female Chancellor

Charles Molele
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Advocate Mojanku Gumbi Appointed University of Venda’s First Female Chancellor

NYAKALLO TEFU

THE University of Venda has appointed Advocate Mojankunyane Gumbi as its new chancellor effective until 31 December 2024.

The University’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Dr Bernard Nthambeleni said Gumbi joins the university at the right time, when it is shifting towards a new strategic direction which is intended to position the university for impact and relevance.

Gumbi takes over from former Deputy President of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, who has served two terms in the position.

Dr Nthambeleni said in a statement that the university is grateful for the first time to have a female chancellor.

“We look forward to her leadership and guidance in the years to come. Her engagement with the University will certainly stand us in good stead,” said Dr Nthambeleni.

Gumbi is the founder of Mojanku Gumbi Advisory Services, a Johannesburg-based business advisory firm that maintains a strategic partnership with the Washington-based Albright Stonebridge Group.

“It is an honour to have a woman with the stature of Adv Gumbi at the helm of UNIVEN. We look forward to her leadership and guidance in the years to come. Her engagement with the University will certainly stand us in good stead,” said Dr Nthambeleni.

Gumbi holds Law degrees from the South African Universities of the North (now University of Limpopo), and Witwatersrand, and a certificate in Trial Advocacy from the University of Texas in Austin.

She was a Special Advisor to the former South African President, Thabo Mbeki from 1999 to 2008. From 1994 to 1999, she was an Advisor to then Deputy President Mbeki in the Mandela administration.

During this time, she spearheaded South Africa’s economic diplomacy, ensuring a global presence for South African companies. She was involved in peace-making initiatives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoros, Sudan, Lesotho, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Iran and the Middle East.

Gumbi also advised on domestic policy issues including the reform of the local healthcare industry, the expansion of South African industry to the rest of Africa and the world, banking and mining sector reforms

Balancing Swimming and University Lectures: SA Sports Star of the Year Tatjana Schoenmaker Speaks

Charles Molele
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Balancing Swimming and University Lectures: SA Sports Star of the Year Tatjana Schoenmaker Speaks

MASEGO PANYANE

TATJANA Schoenmaker is better known as a pro athlete. She is the winner of the South African Sports Star of the Year and South African Sportswoman of the Year in 2019, silver medallist in the 200m breaststroke at the World Championships in Korea in 2019, two-time gold medallist in the 100m as well as 200m breaststroke at the World Student Games in Napoli, Italy, and two more gold medals at the 2019 Tokyo World Cup in the 100m and 200m breaststroke.

What is perhaps lesser known about the 23-year-old swimming sensation is that she has just completed her BCom (Financial Sciences) degree at the University of Pretoria (UP), becoming one of 11 000 UP students who graduated in a virtual ceremony last month. In between conquering the world one pool at a time, Schoenmaker said her studies helped her remain grounded.

“It definitely helped because mentally it ‘balanced’ me in terms of swimming and studying. In other words, while I enjoy focusing on swimming, it also focused my mind on studying, which in turn switched off my mind from swimming. The University and Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences personnel were not only very supportive when I missed tests or exams by allowing me to write them on different dates, but they also assisted me to extend my year because I was away for swimming competitions quite often. So, it definitely contributed to my success in respect to graduating as well as swimming,” Schoenmaker said.

She is one of the thousands of new UP graduates that have had to celebrate the completion of their studies online, instead of attending a traditional graduation ceremony. To mark the occasion, Schoenmaker shared images of herself in graduation attire with her parents. In a fun tribute to her sporting career, underneath the attire Schoenmaker was dressed in a swimming costume.

One of the things the swimmer readily admits is that excelling in the pool and the lecture halls of Tuks came with her having to do a balancing act of sorts, something that would not have been possible without passion and motivation. Quizzed on what motivates her and keeps her striving for more, she said the ability to do what she loves came out tops, every time.

“Being able to do what I love – every single day. My love for swimming makes me want to get up every morning and go to training. It’s like my second home. Being fortunate enough to travel the world doing what I love, seeing new places and meeting new people and sports heroes, motivates me a lot,” she said.

Closely linked to this, she said, is understanding that the secret to success is being passionate about what you do. Especially when trying to build a career.

“First and foremost: passion. You need to have passion for what you are doing; whether it is swimming or studying. If you have a passion for what you are doing and it makes you happy, you most likely will succeed. Likewise, you need to have the necessary discipline: it takes a lot to push yourself, not just in the pool, but also academically when you ever so often have to study until late at night and still get to training the following morning. Finally, you also need to have a sense of timing. For example, when you take off a few hours to relax, you need to put in the same hours to catch up.” 

One of the things she had to sacrifice during her successful sports and academic careers was the complete student life experience. Schoenmaker said it had made her seem inhuman to some around her, but it was a sacrifice she was prepared to make. One, it also seems, she has no regrets about.

“If I could live the past four years over again, I would choose to do precisely the same. I have had some fantastic experiences and met incredible people,” she said.

With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through the world, the Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed and this is one of the arenas that Schoenmaker had hoped to dazzle in. She is, like most South Africans, at home, taking the lockdown period one day at a time. As for what the future holds for her, she’s still pondering that.

“I would love to compete in the Olympic Games and be part of this amazing experience. It’s scary to think that, 23 years on, your childhood dreams are finally coming true! With regard to studying, I’m taking this year off to contemplate if there is something that I would like to carry on studying in terms of a postgraduate qualification… and in the process also get to know myself,” she said.

To current and future UP students, Schoenmaker said: “Enjoy it! Persevere! Sure, at times it will be tough, but at the end of the day it will be worth it. Anyone can do it…and at Tuks the staff is always willing to help out. While I’m doing well in my swimming, I’m also fortunate enough and grateful to say that I have a degree to fall back on; so if my swimming doesn’t work out for me, I always have my BCom to help me out,” she said.

Africa Day: From A Pre-colonial To A COVID-19 Post- University

Charles Molele
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Africa Day: From A Pre-colonial To A COVID-19 Post- University

DR MUNYARADZI MUSHONGA

As we virtually celebrate Africa Month in 2020, it is worth reflecting on the journey of the African university as a reminder of where we are coming from, where we are today, and where we are going.

The emergence and development of university education in Africa can be conceptualised in four distinct phases, namely the pre-colonial university (before 1900), the colonial university (1900-c.1960), the developmental (post-colonial) university (1961-c.1980), and the market (entrepreneurial)/crisis-era university (1980-present).

If we follow this scheme, with the Coronavirus and COVID-19 in our midst, the African university is entering the fifth phase. Just a week into the pandemic, African universities were already experimenting with various online learning and teaching approaches to keep the academic programme afloat, away from the walled university. 

Higher education on the African continent long antedates the establishment of Western-style universities in the 19th century and is traceable to the 3rd century BC.

The oldest university still in existence is Al-Azhar in Egypt, founded in 969 AD. It is regarded as one of the leading Islamic HE institutions in the world today.

Not only did the idea of higher learning begin in Africa, but the spread of universities into “Western Europe was mainly through the traffic of knowledge and ideas that flowed across the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa” (Tisani, 2005:2). 

Colonial universities were a product of the European colonisation of Africa and most of these emerged after the Second World War.

Their mandate was to reorient European colonies through the idea of ‘colonial development’ as well as to “cultivate and sustain indigenous elites” moulded along European traditions; elites that would be crucial in maintaining links with the former colonial powers after the departure of the physical empire from Africa (Munene, 2010:400).

Thus, colonial universities were among the major instruments and vehicles of cultural westernisation and assimilation, bent on removing the hard disk of previous African knowledge and memory, and downloading into it a software of European memory.

Today, the continent remains dominated by universities shaped by the logics of colonialism. It is this resilient colonial university that decoloniality seeks to disrupt and to plant in its place an African university steeped in epistemologies of the Global South. 

Following the retreat of the physical empire, African states established development-orientated universities. It was readily accepted that HE was capable of contributing to the social, cultural, and economic development of Africa.

As such, many universities were initially generously funded and supported by the state. However, this commitment only lasted for about a decade or so.

The ‘independence’ university was overly concerned with first – ‘Africanising’ the public service, and second – with the anti-colonialist aspiration of taking over and ‘Africanising’ positions within the institution.

The more nationalism turned into a state project, the more pressure there was on the developmentalist university to implement a state-determined and state-driven agenda, and the more this happened, “the more critical thought was taken as subversive of the national project” (Mamdani, 2008).

Resultantly, the university lost its original mandate and the international policy environment did not help matters, as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund suggested that ‘Africa did not need university education’ and called for the privatisation of public universities. 

The fate of the ‘developmental university’ was sealed in 1990 when the World Conference on Education for All prioritised elementary education. The increasing frustration with the perceived failure of the ‘developmental university’ on the one hand, and changed Western priorities and the inevitable influence of Western aid and Western academic organisations on the other hand, gave rise to the market (entrepreneurial)/crisis-era university.

Since the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s, many African universities have been under pressure to liberalise, following the retreat of the state in the provision of education. This led to various forms of disputes and contestations (#FeesMustFall is one of them) – contestations centred on the meaning, purpose, and mission of an African university (Zeleza and Olukoshi, 2004:1) in a fast decolonising yet liberalising environment. 

Today, with the Coronavirus and COVID-19 in our midst, one thing is certain – the pandemic will have a lasting impact on all national institutions, the African university included. It is not possible to predict the kind of university that might emerge both during and beyond the pandemic. However, the following questions might help us imagine such a university.

What kind of university do we have (now/today)? What kind of university do we want? What kind of university do we need? What kind of university can we afford? These are transhistorical questions that have informed all previous versions of the university. Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic is sure to give birth to another crisis-era university.

While such a university will be dictated by the prevailing socio-economic and socio-political ideologies and landscapes shaped by the pandemic, we should also refuse to allow the pandemic to define such a university for us. The COVID-19 pandemic should only be used as a stage for a ‘great leap’ forward. The pandemic offers the African university a fresh start.

Yet, we must, as some Kovsies have already cautioned, guard against the temptation to respond to crises in particularist and isolationist fashions. It is time to overcome. It is time to unite. It is time to grab the bull by the horns. It is time for Africa’s place in the sun. #ONEAFRICA.  

(This article was written by Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga, Programme Director: Africa Studies, Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State)

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