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Namibia: First Lady rejects Curro Holdings school deal link

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Namibia: First Lady rejects Curro Holdings school deal link

Shinovene Immanuel

First Lady Monica Geingos says the company that wants to build a N$200 million private school in Windhoek misinformed the education ministry in claiming that she facilitated talks between the firm and the President to support the project.

Geingos made these remarks in two letters sent to The Namibian through her lawyer Sisa Namandje on Saturday.

Even though Geingos admitted that she advised the company to write their concerns to the President, she rejected claims by the company that she initiated talks.

The Namibian reported on Friday that the education ministry turned down a proposal by a private company – which is supported by President Hage Geingob – to surrender a plot worth over N$20 million in exchange for a free school in a Windhoek low-income area.

This transaction involves a South African company called Curro Holdings, which owns the Windhoek Gymnasium Private School.

The land (Erf 350) that measures around seven hectares (equal to seven average football fields) is in Rietfontein Street, Kleine Kuppe.

Windhoek Gymnasium Private School managing director Colette Rieckert wrote two letters to education permanent secretary Sanet Steenkamp last month regarding their plans to get land which is reserved for the education ministry.

Rieckert explained in an 11 April 2018 letter that their plan to build a school was delayed by the City of Windhoek.

Rieckert said Geingob helped them when the City of Windhoek delayed in processing their application.

“We have had many frustrations in the application process of land for our junior schools,” Rieckert wrote to Steenkamp. She added that in December 2017, First Lady Geingos requested to see her about their land applications.

“After my discussion with Geingos, she discussed it with her husband, who immediately took action and sent a letter of support for our school, plus the request that the City of Windhoek starts actively to help me in my search for land,” Rieckert said.

She added: “After issuing this letter, we did feel some action being taken (by the municipality)”.

“Our President and his wife appreciate the quality education that we provide in Namibia, and wish for us to build more schools in our country,” she said.

Namandje, representing Geingos, wrote to Rieckert on Saturday, saying her letter to Steenkamp was misleading.

“Our client finds the content of your letter unfortunate, and a distortion of what occurred,” Namandje told Rieckert.

He said Rieckert contacted Geingos on 27 July 2017, explaining their frustration about their plan to build a school.

“You informed our client that you desperately needed to speak to her “for advice” in respect of your frustration and unhappiness [in] what you considered as the unfair handling of your school’s land application by the Windhoek municipality,” Namandje said.

The lawyer said Geingos advised Rieckert that if she was aggrieved, she can write a letter to the President.

“Our client’s involvement in the matter was therefore limited to you approaching our client, seeking advice on how to handle your frustration in respect of your land application, and her advising you how you could address your complaint,” Namandje said.

The attorney said Geingos did not discuss the matter with Geingob, and did not push for the support of the school from the President as Rieckert appeared to have implied in her letter.

“Your letter further appears to suggest that our client initiated contact between yourself and her. That is wrong, as our client did not request to see you,” Namandje said, adding that text messages exchanged on this matter between Geingos and Rieckert are still available.

“We, therefore, kindly demand that you correct the above factual misrepresentation,” he asked Rieckert.

Namandje said the President and the First Lady regularly receive complaints from the public over poor service delivery from public offices.

“When they alert the concerned public functionaries of complaints received by them, it would be unfair to interpret their action as some sort of inappropriate bid to influence the decision-making,” the lawyer stated.

Namandje also complained that Geingos was not given an opportunity to comment on the article.

The Namibian emailed questions and all the quotes attributed to Rieckert to State House on Thursday, but presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari referred the queries to the education ministry.

Rieckert issued a short statement on Friday, saying they did not agree with the article, and that they would not comment on the matter.

Curro Holdings want to build a N$200 million primary school to accommodate about 1 000 pupils and be a feeder to the nearby Windhoek Gymnasium, which currently offers both primary and secondary education.

The land where they want to build was reserved for the education ministry in 2012, although it is yet to be paid for. Curro Holdings is now asking the education minister to inform the City of Windhoek that the ministry does not want the land any more. Once that is done, Curro would then buy the land from the municipality.

In exchange, Curro offered to build 24 classrooms and other facilities at Monte Christo School in the Havana informal settlement for N$14,6 million. The school uses containers and tents as classes.

The decision by the education ministry, led by Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, to block the proposal by the private company effectively goes against the wishes of the project supported by Geingob, adding to the suspicion that the two political leaders are not on good talking terms as before.

People briefed about this issue said a relative of a senior official in the Presidency is part of the company subcontracted to build the proposed Windhoek Gymnasium Primary School.

However, other people said officials in the education ministry are using that link as a way to dismiss a legitimate proposal to build a school on land that the ministry is not using.

Read the original article on Namibian.

Education to prepare young minds for 4th & 5th industrial revolutions

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Education to prepare young minds for 4th & 5th industrial revolutions

Lesetja Malope

Sizwe Nxasana has embarked on a mission to prepare young minds for upcoming industrial revolutions.

Nxasana is former FirstRand CEO and the sixth black person to qualify as a chartered accountant in the country.

He serves on a few boards, including the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and the National Education Collaboration Fund. He left the corporate world two years ago, having earned his stripes as a respected executive.

However, what many people do not know about the humble, Newcastle-born executive is that he is passionate about education and since exiting the corporate world, he has embarked on a mission to improve the education system through Pan-African methods.

“It was quite a natural step that when I left corporate life I would do two things; the first is to start a business in the education sector as a social enterprise and second I would, as part of my national service, work with government in the area of education to try to improve the quality at both basic and higher education levels,” Nxasana said at Sifiso Nxasana House, head office of the Sifiso Learning Group in Sandton this week.

As the executive chairperson of the group, an entity he co-founded with his wife Judy Dlamini, Nxasana said through Future Nation Schools, a subsidiary, he plans to change the education landscape, improve the quality and introduce a new culture of excellence.

“We are now preparing young minds for the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions and education has a key role to play in that regard. As a country we have a number of challenges.

“And, even though as a country we have done very well in improving access to education we are still battling to improve the quality of education,”
he said.

Future Nation has seven schools and Nxasana said there are ambitious plans to ensure the brand grows beyond regional borders.

“We have ambitions that are more Pan-African. We have ambitions of making sure that Africans are part of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions.

“These are not African problems but continental problems. We have ambitions of growing the footprint continentally, even globally,” he said.

Nxasana said the group has also opted to expand slowly with the establishment of its teaching culture rather than faster acquisition of schools.

He likened the education group to a “laboratory”, examining and researching internationally progressive ways of learning and teaching.

He pointed out that another differentiating factor of the group is the emphasis of development and promotion of indigenous languages.

“The development and promotion of the mother tongues need to be accelerated. If you consider that it’s been proved time and again that our children don’t read for comprehension, we need to invest a lot more in our languages,” he said.

The group has a publishing subsidiary that promotes indigenous writers for both academia and trade books.

Through Sifiso EdTech, another subsidiary, Nxasana said the aim is to use technology to improve education.

Late last year the group donated 36 000 books to the Walter Sisulu University.

Nxasana said the 30 000-plus students at the institution do not, as with most of its peer institutions, have sufficient resources and that disadvantages whoever enrols there.

Asked if he thinks there would be free higher education in the foreseeable future for all, Nxasana said: “The ANC and government are clear on this topic that higher education will be free to those people who need financial aid.

“It’s very clear – in fact even section 29 [of the Constitution] is clear on that – where it says the state within its reasonable means will make higher education available.

“As a developing country that has fiscal constraint I think the state has done as much as it can to make sure it meets that constitutional obligation,” he said.

Read original article here.

Last day for Gauteng school admission applications

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Last day for Gauteng school admission applications

Jenna Etheridge

Parents only have until today midnight to apply online for Grade 1 and Grade 8 placements, the Gauteng Education Department has said.

The department’s online system will shut down at time 00:00 as we enter into the new day.

Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said parents who had already applied were reminded to urgently submit the required documents to schools.

“As a special concession, schools will accept documents only up to 14:00 on 5 June 2018. Failure to submit documents will lead to applicants forfeiting their positions in the queue.”

A total of 535 064 applications have been processed since applications opened online on April 16.

Most of the decentralised admission centres were flooded on the first day of applications.

‘High-pressure’ schools

Mabona said the few errors that were encountered were resolved immediately.

In some cases, people had applied for the wrong grade, entered the incorrect addresses or lost/forgot their login credentials.

At this stage, the demand seemed to exceed the number of available spaces at almost 600 schools.

Nine of the top 10, “high-pressure” schools are high schools.

The top high-pressure schools are Alberton High School, Boksburg High School, Sir John Adamson High School in Winchester Hills, Mondeor High School, Pretoria High School for Girls, Hoërskool Akasia in Heatherdale, Hoërskool President in Ridgeway, Northcliff High School, Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz in Pretoria North and Laerskool Akasia in Pretoria.

Schools which have low numbers of applications were all in poorer suburbs.

“It is concerning that in the last two years, many parents in townships waited for the late application period and flooded [Gauteng Department of Education] offices in January to apply for their children,” said Mabona.

Parents were warned that those who did not meet the deadline were at risk of having their children out of school in January 2019.

The placement process will take place between July 18 and October 31.

“Parents should note that availability of space is the key determinant of how many children can be placed in a school. Placement will be conducted in compliance with admissions criteria and on a first-come-first-served basis.”

Parents will receive SMS notifications regarding the status of their applications.

Schools will send offers of placement to parents between July 18 and August 3.

These offers have to be confirmed within seven working days of receipt thereof, or the space offered will be forfeited.

From August 6 to October 31, districts will help place pupils who cannot be placed by schools.

“We are indebted to all parents who have heeded to our call and applied in numbers, the response from the public was indeed overwhelming. We encourage those that have applied to conform to the stipulated deadline,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.

Read the original article here.

South Africa: Sexual offenders are in our schools

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South Africa: Sexual offenders are in our schools

S’Thembile Cele

As Child Protection Week begins it has been revealed that the SA Council of Educators (Sace), which has the task of vetting teachers, has not had access to the sexual offenders’ list for a decade.

With a spate of reported incidents of teachers sexually abusing schoolkids, this means that many more sexual predators are lurking in the system undetected.

This was revealed in a parliamentary response to Sace posed by the DA’s Sonja Boshoff earlier this month.

In its response Sace writes that in 2017 it had approached the director-general (DG) of the basic education department, asking him to obtain the National Child Protection Register from the DG of the justice department.

 “This move was taken because of the limitations of access to the register, which permits only employers, concerned individuals and designated child-protection organisations to access it.

Similarly, the basic education department DG would have facilitated the process of accessing the National Register of Sexual Offences on behalf of Sace as well,” the response reads.

“Subsequent to the request, a joint meeting between the department of basic education, social development and Sace was held to discuss access to the Child Protection Register.

“The department of justice and constitutional development were not available to attend because of competing priorities.”

Spokesperson for Sace Themba Ndlovu confirmed that it was yet to get the registers and was waiting for further engagements with the justice department through the basic education department.

Ndlovu said that in the meantime it was beefing up the Child Protection Register, which was constantly being managed and updated by Sace.

The organisation was ensuring that the teachers who it had struck off the roll for “misdemeanors” were recorded on the list.

Plans were in place to make a police clearance certificate a necessary requirement for teachers from both inside and outside the country, who needed to be registered with Sace.

But basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said there was nothing preventing Sace from directly approaching the justice department.

“Sace was established by an act of Parliament in 2000, which means it does not have to work through the basic education department or any other department to obtain information from another structure of government. It can do that itself,” Mhlanga said.

“The DG has been in communication with the DG of the justice department to try to resolve this matter by ensuring the department and its entities, such as Sace in this case, have full access to this register and it is able to use it for the right purpose,” Mhlanga said.

An insider at the basic education department said the issue about handing out the register was that it was incomplete and had been neglected for some time, making it useless from which to work.

Boshoff said she was concerned that Sace had failed to obtain the list, given the current epidemic of sexual predators in the school system.

“The Child Protection Register and the Register for Sex Offenders are crucial to protect our pupils from predatory school staff. Sace is supposed to vet teachers thoroughly before allowing them to teach in South Africa. It should keep track of all disciplinary infringements and convictions against them,” Boshoff said.

“We are experiencing an epidemic of sexual and physical abuse of learners by educators and other school staff, so something is not working in this system. It is shocking that Sace, which was established 18 years ago, requested access to these registers only recently.”

Read the original article here.

A shock to the system: how new teachers in Zimbabwe learn to do their jobs

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A shock to the system: how new teachers in Zimbabwe learn to do their jobs

Nhlanhla Mpofu and Lizette J de Jager

There’s a big difference between what prospective teachers learn at university and what they find when they enter the world of work. Some scholars have called this a “reality shock”, and pointed out that it could “account for the frustration, anxiety and self-doubt many early career teachers are thought to experience”.

Other researchers have found that early career teachers who are just starting out often lack the subject knowledge that’s needed for effective teaching. There’s a discrepancy between the content they’re taught and the curricula they find already in place at schools.

And, in perhaps the grimmest description of all, some researchers have called teaching an occupation that “cannibalises its ‘young’ and in which the initiation of new teachers is akin to a ‘sink or swim,’ ‘trial by fire,’ or ‘boot camp’ experience”.

Yet despite these very real challenges, some early career teachers have managed to effectively teach their subject and have remained in the profession. Given that their university training alone didn’t seem to be setting them up for this work, we wanted to know how early career teachers obtained the knowledge they really needed to succeed and even thrive.

Working with early career high school English language teachers from Zimbabwe, we found that teachers obtained their knowledge about their work from three sources. First, they drew from theories of education they’d learned at university. They also explored the nature of their subject and built up knowledge from that. And they identified problematic areas in how their subject is usually taught, then found new and different ways to tackle these difficulties.

These findings emphasise teaching knowledge as emanating from personal, practical, reactional and contextual experiences. This means teacher preparation programmes might better prepare pre-service teachers by exposing them to multiple contexts which have the potential to develop their professional practice.

Different ways of learning how to teach

We worked with a group of early career teachers in Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo East district. They work at schools which we once reserved for white students before Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 and the education system was desegregated. Today the district is largely occupied by middle-class black people and a few white families.

We collected data using semi-structured interviews, conducted our own observations and had the participants keep reflection diaries. Then we analysed this material to identify common areas of knowledge and the sources of that information.

University study is not entirely without value for early career teachers. The participants in our research said they sourced some information from their academic courses and activities. This included general knowledge about psychology, sociology, learning and communication. They then reconstructed this knowledge into their personal philosophies and teaching styles.

The second source of knowledge was the very nature of English language as a subject. For example, when it came to the literature component of the subject, teachers said it was important to know about the history of literature since this informs its nature. This knowledge made them more aware of the scaffolds their pupils required to perform well in the subject. This knowledge was not easily accessible through comprehension of the university curriculum only. These teachers reinterpreted their theoretical knowledge into their contexts as means of enhancing effective learning.

The knowledge of the history and nature of their subject motivated these teachers to embrace specific teaching methods that facilitated problem solving, critical thinking, competencies, skills and values synonymous with someone who has studied in that area. They were aware of the robust ways in which knowledge is acquired in English learning.

Through this continuous process of refining their ability to teach a subject by paying attention to their context, the pupils and the curriculum objectives, the early career teachers become more than subject teachers: they were subject knowers.

Finally, the participants in our study learned to be better teachers by understanding which areas their pupils struggled to grasp. They reached this point by really getting to know what each of the pupils in their classes needed to be academically successful. Then they created teaching strategies that motivated their learners and boosted their self-esteem and efficacy.

Implications for teaching

Our study offers a deeper comprehension of how early career teachers develop and gain knowledge. It also highlights the symbiotic relationship between theoretical knowledge in teaching and the role of teachers in the construction of their teaching knowledge from classroom-based experiences.

Simply put, it’s not enough for teachers to get a degree and believe they’re prepared for life in a classroom. There should be more chances for teachers to develop skills as professionals on how to teach. This development process occurs only when teachers are nurtured in supportive school communities.

Nhlanhla Mpofu is a Senior Lecturer at Sol Plaatje University and Lizette J de Jager is a Senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria.

Read original article here.

Science in Africa: homegrown solutions and talent must come first

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Science in Africa: homegrown solutions and talent must come first

Alan Christoffels

It’s been a recurring refrain: Africa still lags woefully behind the rest of the world in generating new scientific knowledge.

As figures collated by the World Bank in 2014 show, the continent – home to around 16% of the world’s population – produces less than 1% of the world’s research output.

These are painful admissions to make as the continent prepares to celebrate Africa Day on May 25. But there are several projects and initiatives that offer hope amid all the bad news.

One is a major funding and agenda setting platform, the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya, which was established by the African Academy of Sciences in partnership with NEPAD. It will award research grants to African universities, advise on financial best practice and develop a science strategy for Africa. It also offers an opportunity for African scientists to speak with one voice when it comes to aligning a research and development agenda for African countries.

Another is the US’s National Institute of Health and Wellcome Trust’s commitment to invest nearly US$ 200 million into Africa-led genomics projects, biobanks and training of bioinformatics personnel. This investment targets diseases that affect the African continent and gives African scientists the opportunity to set priorities with regard to health interventions and skills development.

And some countries on the continent are starting to realise just how important it is to retain talent and skills. They are investing in human capital development and building infrastructure to keep African scientists in Africa – or to attract them back home once they’ve studied elsewhere. All of this will help to shift the continent’s economies towards becoming knowledge-based.

These are all promising steps in the right direction. But more work and focus is needed across the continent.

Political will lagging

The underlying reason for the dispiriting figures shared by the World Bank is multifaceted but simple: Africa does not produce enough scientists.

The continent currently has only 198 researchers per million people. That’s compared to 455 per million in Chile, and more than 4,500 per million in the UK and the US. If it’s to match the world average for the number of researchers per million people – around 1,150 – the continent needs another million new PhDs.

Political will is desperately needed to achieve that goal. It is sorely lacking in most African countries. In 2006, members of the African Union endorsed a target for each nation to spend 1% of its Gross Domestic Product on research and development. Yet as of 2017 only three countries – South Africa, Malawi and Uganda – have reached this goal.

And while more African authors are producing research and being published in international journals, a great deal of this work is being conducted in collaboration with international partners.

The vital role of international partnerships in driving innovation in Africa is unquestionable. But at the same time, the dependence on international collaboration and investment without any pan-African framework for increasing and sustaining local funding, limits Africa’s ability to drive a scientific agenda that is aligned to its specific needs.

Homegrown initiatives

That’s why African-led initiatives like the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa, Human, Heredity and Health in Africa Programme and the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium– through which genomics programmes on the continent are being funded – are so important.

For instance, the funding the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust are channelling through the Human, Heredity and Health in Africa Programme has catalysed regional efforts to establish guidelines for biobanks in South Africa, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

Genetic material of African origin is key to the development of more effective vaccines or understanding disease mechanisms. Biobanks provide both the infrastructure and protocols to accurately store these biological samples, and in the context of pandemics like Ebola scientists have access to the biological material to find vaccines.

In supporting biobanks and more generally genetics laboratories, my team has built the open-source Baobab LIMS through European Union funding to track the lifespan of a biological sample in a laboratory. This means a researcher can trace what happens to a biological sample or where it is located. Currently this technology is being used at labs in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Tunisia.

But building laboratories isn’t enough. To keep growing and improving its scientific output, Africa needs to pay urgent attention to retaining talent.

The continent’s unstable research funding streams mean that scientists tend to be employed only on short-term contracts. As a result, 48% of researchers in Southern Africa are spending less than two years at any one institution. This number drops to 39% for East Africa.

The impact of short-term contracts will be felt in the research and development space where we do not have sufficient time to build critical mass. This results in continuous initiation of new projects without building on existing knowledge and seeking interventions that are sustainable.

This short-term thinking also means that brilliant African thinkers and scientists are lost to the continent. And there is no doubt that retaining such scientists makes a difference. Take the case of Professor Abdoulaye Djimde. The continent needs more like him.

Djimde, one of my collaborators, is chief of the Molecular Epidemiology and Drug Resistance Unit at the Malaria Research and Training Centre University of Bamako, Mali. He returned to Mali in 2001 after completing his PhD in genetics in the US.

Over a period of 17 years, he has rolled out a research development strategy that attracted millions of dollars in investment to build infrastructure in his home country. He’s also obtained funding to develop the next generation of African scientists through the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS) Africa programme. The continent needs to keep more of its Professor Djimdes at home if it’s to keep growing.

Alan Christoffels is DST/NRF Research Chair in Bioinformatics and Public Health Genomics, University of the Western Cape.

Read original article here.

Footballer turned philanthropist gives back to community

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Footballer turned philanthropist gives back to community

Mosibodi Whitehead

One of the most serious challenges in delivering sporting opportunities to all South African children of school going age is the lack of facilities. This is especially so in the townships and rural areas.

It’s a problem that has plagued post-Apartheid South Africa since 1994 and there seems to be no end in sight.

In 2014 Antoinette Muller wrote in the Daily Maverick: “Facilities are a massive problem across both primary and secondary school level. Rugby has over 1,300 primary schools in jurisdiction participating, while cricket has just over 1,500. Playing facilities available to those schools are badly lacking, though. Rugby has just 813 while cricket has 905.”

The data was taken from the Eminent Persons group report which measures the extent to which different South African sporting codes meet their transformation targets paints a bleak picture.

And while there has been improvement in the number of primary schools playing both cricket and rugby in the last four years, the facilities challenge remains. Be it cricket, rugby, netball, tennis or lawn bowls the challenge remains the same; how to provide township and rural school children with access to well-maintained sporting facilities? Particularly when one considers that there are over 25 000 schools in the country.

The solution comes from an unlikely source.

A footballer turned philanthropist who has chosen to use his profile to plough back into his rural community.  In a country where soccer players are infamous for squandering their riches to return to their communities as paupers, SuperSport United’s Aubrey Modiba is different.

Modiba rose to prominence as one of the success stories of the Nedbank ke Yona team search. The Ke Yona Team Search which started in 2013, is a nationwide talent search programme that has seen over 25 previously unknown players secure professional contracts.

The coaches scour all corners of South Africa searching for hopefuls and one of those was Modiba. After getting his opportunity, The Postman (they call him the postman because his passes are always delivered on time like the snail mail of years gone by) then played for Mpumalanga Black Aces, SuperSport United and Bafana Bafana.

He also continued his relationship with Nedbank and earlier this year he teamed up with the bank to build a multi-million rand multi-purpose sports facility in his rural home town of Mentz Matshelapata, just outside Polokwane, Limpopo.

But more importantly, this facility is to be used by his former primary school, Makgefola. The new R1,2 million multipurpose sports which is funded primarily by The Nedbank Sport Affinity accommodates several different sporting codes including football, basketball, netball, volleyball, cricket, scouts and indigenous games.

“I hope learners in my former school will utilise this facility to their own advantage and help them to achieve their goals. I’m not saying they should all be soccer players, but they can also partake in other sports,” said The Postman.

Makgafola will share the facility with its neighbouring schools and communities for tournaments, competitions, events, wellness days and sports-related activities. This public-private partnership then, provides an example of how the stubborn challenge of lack of sporting facilities in South African schools can be addressed.

Minister of Sport and Recreation Tokozile Xasa graced the opening of the multi-purpose sports court heaping praise on Nedbank for answering government’s battle cry for business to bear arms in the battle to provide access to sporting facilities.

“We 100% affirm this initiative by the private sector and we can only hope that all of them can come to the party and alleviate the plight of lack of sport facilities within our communities,” said Xasa.

Although the success of the facility can only be determined by how well Makgafola, the neighbouring schools and the surrounding community use and maintain it, the model is one which has potential for success because can be duplicated.

Corporates can adopt a school, build or refurbish a derelict facility and that school can then become the nucleus around which a thriving community of school sport can grow.

In difficult economic times where national government has competing priorities including providing quality education and healthcare, the provision of sporting facilities understandably falls very low on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s to-do list.

It’s a Herculean task which cannot be accomplished without willing partners. So in order for South Africa to unearth sporting talent from Grabouw to Ga-Mphahlele and Upington to Umlazi partners such as Nedbank that are willing and able to invest in school sport are priceless.

Whitehead is a sports writer and broadcaster.

‘Shut up, you idiot, k*****’ – teacher allegedly tells 7-year-old pupil

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‘Shut up, you idiot, k*****’ – teacher allegedly tells 7-year-old pupil

Amanda Khoza

“Shut up, you idiot, k*****!”

This is what a Grade 2 teacher in Gauteng allegedly said to a 7-year-old girl shortly after slapping her so hard that she collided with the chalkboard.

Her father, a 29-year-old businessman who lives in the Midrand area, said he and his wife arrived home at around 18:00 last Friday.

“My daughter complained about her left ear, so we gave her painkillers like we usually do when children complain.”

On Sunday, when her condition appeared to deteriorate, her parents checked the left ear and noticed that it was a bit swollen.

The little girl was taken to Netcare Hospital in Waterfall.

“The doctor said the ear pain was caused by an injury and not an infection. The doctor also said the eardrum was affected.”

The father of two said he and his wife tried to speak to their daughter about what had happened, but she did not open up.

“On Monday morning, she appeared terrified when we were getting her ready for school. It got worse as we got nearer to the school. She burst into tears.

“I realised whatever was troubling her had something to do with the school.”

The man devised a plan to get his daughter comfortable and pretended to know what had happened.

“She told me she was slapped by her teacher on Friday during school hours. She said her teacher was trying to keep the class quiet and then she called her to the front of the class and then slapped her so hard that she collided with the chalkboard.”

When the little girl started crying, the teacher, whom she admired, yelled at her.

“Shut up, you idiot, k*****,” the woman apparently said.

“My daughter quoted the teacher clearly and it was the first time hearing my daughter using the k-word. I was shocked.”

Dropping his daughter off at the school, he told her not to tell the teacher that he knew what had happened.

“When I got to work, I called the principal and told him what my daughter had said and then I went to report the matter [to] the police and gave the police the medical report from the doctor.”

On Monday afternoon, shortly before school ended, the police went to the school to arrest the teacher.

The father claims that the woman told the police that she did not slap the girl hard enough to cause damage, and that she was sorry that the father found the incident to be racial.

“I said to her, whether it was racial or not, she had no right to beat up my child.

“She told me that we would meet in court,” the father claimed.

He said the principal told him the teacher had resigned prior to the incident.

The principal assured the family that he would be sending a report to the department, informing it of what had happened, the father said.

The Gauteng Department of Education on Wednesday confirmed that it was aware of the incident.

MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the teacher would be served with a notice of intention to suspend, pending an investigation into the allegations. Until the investigation is finalised, the teacher will not be reporting to the school.

He said the department had met with the [pupil’s] family, adding that the 7-year-old girl would receive counselling at home from the department’s psycho social support team.

“We condemn any form of assault of [pupils] in schools as corporal punishment is outlawed by the Constitution of the country. Educators are always urged to utilise alternative disciplinary approaches as corporal punishment is no longer acceptable.

“It is shocking that such an allegation happened at the school, where [pupils] should be protected by educators. We will take the necessary steps to correct the situation,” Lesufi said.

The [pupil’s] father said he was still in shock over the fact that his daughter had been introduced to the k-word and had already been a victim of it.

The little girl’s mother has taken leave from work this week to look after her because she has not attended any school.

“I am worried about what the experience might do to her future. She really loved this teacher. She even adopted her accent, so you can imagine how traumatised she is by the incident.”

The father said he did not want the teacher to teach ever again.

“Let’s save other black children out there. I want her to be criminally charged for humiliating my daughter.”

Olifantsfontein police confirmed that they were investigating a case of assault.

Constable Mokete Serakwana said: “The case is under investigation. The investigating officer was instructed to write a warning statement and release the suspect.” – News24

Youth unemployment, industrialisation and jobs for the future

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Youth unemployment, industrialisation and jobs for the future

Thuletho Zwane

Industrialisation of Africa’s economies is critical in order for the continent to curb its high youth unemployment. Analysts say the only way to secure future youth employment is for African governments to prepare their youths for  “jobs of the future” and to also support small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

Speaking at the 2018 African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Annual Meetings, a member of the AfDB Presidential Youth Advisory Group and CEO of Agrolay Ada Osakwe said African countries had no choice but to transition from jobs of the past to jobs of the future.

“And this, in a lot of ways, has  to do with up-skilling our youth. Skills in science and technology, information technology, big data and artificial intelligence will make some of the core requirements for employment and enterprise development,” said Osakwe.

She said the continent’s youth  needed to bring innovative solutions to fix problems faced by African countries.

This is why the story of Morrocan tech entrepreneur, Badr Idrissi, is a good one.

Idrissi co-founded ATLAN Space, a start-up that uses artificial intelligence and drone technology to fight illegal fishing.

He was one of four African entrepreneurs who spoke at the “Bridging innovation industries: African youth solving continental challenges” session hosted at the 2018 AfDB annual meetings in Busan, South Korea.

Environmental and ecological threats such as illegal fishing, poaching and deforestation faced by many African countries are what inspired Idrissi to establish his software start-up. These issues result in a large percentage of fishing activities, especially those off the West African coast, resulting in huge economic losses.

These countries do not have the capacity to have satellite surveillance on the sea for each square-kilometre.

“The  Overseas Development Institute shows that even though  illegal fishing is a worldwide phenomenon, it is much more dramatic for African countries. For west African countries, illegal fishing costs governments US$1.4bn every year and destroys 300,000 jobs, ” said Idrissi.

Chair of the AfDB Presidential Youth Advisory Group Ashish Thakkar acknowledged that there was a much more positive attitude towards youth entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurs on the continent.

“This is because Africa has come to realise that the answer to unemployment is no longer foreign direct investments (FDIs) or large industrial projects. The answer to unemployment is to truly nurture small to medium enterprises and that is where the youth plays a critical, critical role,” he said.

In Kenya, a young banker, Lorna Rutto, quit her job to co-found EcoPost, a social enterprise that has created thousands of sustainable jobs for people in marginalized communities, in addition to conserving the environment.

EcoPost has so far transformed over 3 million kilograms of plastic waste into plastic lumber, saved over 500 acres of forest and helped mitigate climate change in Kenya.

Idrissi and Rutto’s start-up companies have been commended by AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina who urged young entrepreneurs to keep converting challenges faced by the continent  into opportunities.

“Young people are not just the future of Africa, they are the present,” said Adesina. “They represent entrepreneurship and energy. This must be nurtured, harnessed and scaled up to propel Africa’s industrial revolution and the Bank is here to harness that.”

Rutto said she was inspired by what she thought was going wrong in her community.

“Trees were being cut down and plastic waste was all over the place. It was very scary for me to resign a good bank job, but I had to fulfil my ambition as an entrepreneur. That was when I developed the idea that waste was a resource and not a thing to throw away,”said Rutto.

Watch the video here: Bridging Innovation Industries: African Youth Solving Continental Challenges 

 

South Africa: Higher Education Minister shocked by senseless killing of university professor

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South Africa: Higher Education Minister shocked by senseless killing of university professor

Thuletho Zwane

South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education and Training Naledi Pandor has expressed shock at the senseless killing of the University of Zululand’s Professor Gregory Kamwendo.

Pandor had recently met Kamwendo during one of her visits to the UniZulu campus in an effort to familiarise herself with universities across the country.

The minister said she was saddened by the shooting incident and pleaded with law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned.

Kamwendo was killed in a shooting at his home in Empangeni, north of Durban  on Tuesday.

Media reports state that the professor was driving from work when he was approached by an unknown assailant.

Empangeni police spokesperson Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose said Kamwendo was shot in his car as he drove into his residence just after 5pm.He said they are investigating a case of murder but no arrests have yet been made.

“He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body and was declared dead at the scene by paramedics‚” said KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele.

She said the motive for the killing was unknown at this stage.

Kamwendo was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts Kamwendo joined UniZulu as the Faculty of Arts  Dean in 2016, having left the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he was the Dean of Education.

UniZulu spokesperson Gcina Nhleko said the they were, “devastated by the untimely passing. Professor Kamwendo was a knowledge fountain and he will be sorely missed by the entire UniZulu community,” read the UniZulu Facebook post posted on the university page.  

Minister Pandor said Kamwendo spoke passionately about the efforts they, as Senate, took towards cleansing the image UniZulu after the institution suffered scandal related to the criminal sale of degrees.

Pandor sent her heartfelt condolence to Kamwendo’s family, relatives, friends and the UniZulu community at larger.

 

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