Thabo Mohlala

Thousands of teachers filled the Sandton Convention Centre’s Pavillion room on Saturday afternoon to take part in the 18th annual National Teaching Awards (NTAs) festivities.

The NTAs are the equivalent of the Oscars except, in this case, teachers are the stars of the night. Finalists from the 11 awards categories turned up dressed in their finest to celebrate the winners and the teaching profession in general.

The venue was tastefully festooned with an assortment of colours and the lighting also created a matching magical and electric ambience. Teachers were serenaded with soulful music by various school traditional dancing groups, Afro Tenors, and solo opera artists backed by a live orchestra band.

Virtually every speaker who took to the podium heaped praises on teachers and underlining the role they play in guiding and nurturing young minds through their selflessness and passion for education.

SABC recorded the proceedings for later broadcast with a 702 radio personality, Kelebogile Mabotja and SABC2’s Morning Live host, Leanne Manas, compering.  

The event was graced by high profile politicians, dignitaries and education officials including; Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, her Deputy, Enver Surty, Director-General, Mathanzima Mweli; Louise Asmal, Graca Machel, the Nelson Mandela

Foundation, the Sisulu family, OR Tambo Foundation and the Tambo family, Members of the Portfolio Committee and the Select Committee and Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi and his Western Cape counterpart, Debbie Schaffer.

In her welcome address, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, noted the fact that the awards “mark an important milestone in the calendar of her department”. Said Motshekga: “Through these awards, we acknowledge and encourage dedicated and caring teachers in their efforts to develop each learner, in the basic education system, to be a true and complete citizen of the democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.”

She said the awards are not a stand-alone project but are an integral part of the department’s named, Teacher Appreciation and Support (TASP), which is aimed at ensuring that the celebration of teachers is not a once off event.

In fact, said Motshekga, the National Teachers’ Awards (NTAs) should be considered as an act of restitution. “Through this prestigious event we pay homage to the men and women whose selfless dedication to the profession of teaching outshines the rest,” said Motshekga, adding teachers are in the frontline of the war against ignorance, poverty and backwardness.

They are the torchbearers of hope and light, continued Motshekga, saying “Without the teaching profession there would be no other profession”.  

Motshekga said teachers are the backbone of any functional democratic society. She applauded teachers for having achieved a lot of milestones despite the huge challenges the country and the basic education system faces. Some of the challenges, include but not limited to, increased levels of poverty, unemployment, violence and abuse of all forms, lack of proper infrastructure especially in rural communities, low morale and societal ills, all of which affect the learning and teaching outcomes in our basic education system.

She told the packed venue that awards take place in the context of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Nelson Mandela. “As we confront the challenges of the present we continue to draw lessons and inspiration from his life. We shall use this historic occasion to unite, rebuild and renew the basic education sector, so that it can leapfrog into the 4th Industrial Revolution, said Motshekga.  

She said Mandela dedicated his life to the betterment of the children of South Africa including building “more state-of-the-art schools while President of the Republic of South Africa”.

As we celebrate Madiba’s achievements as a freedom fighter, a leader, a democrat, and the founding father of our modern nation, said Motshekga, we must among others, all agree that basic education is at the heart of building a South African nation build on the principles of Ubuntu and social cohesion; and that the teaching profession plays a pivotal role in building a cohesive society.  We dare not fail, said Motshekga.

Winners of the each category drove away with brand new Renault Kwid cars, courtesy of the O.R. Tambo International Airport. Runners-up also scooped some cash prizes such as ICT training vouchers and ICT packages sponsored by Avob, Future Foundations, SchoolNet, Via Afrika and Vodacom Foundation.

Bonile Khanyi

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga honoured the nations top performing teachers at a gala dinner for the 18th Annual National Teaching Awards (NTAs) at the Sandton Convention Centre in Gauteng.

On behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe delivered the keynote address at the prestigious event highlighting the important role teachers play in developing a society.

“Teaching is arguably the most critical profession in our endeavour to build a new society,” said Radebe.

“In a normative sense, we all know that teaching is a profession, but those who take the plunge and train as teachers, are actually answering a higher calling to bring light to the nation,” Radebe said. 

He said the contribution of teachers was “immeasurable” and urged the teachers honoured at the NTAs to continue working hard in building the nation.

“I urge all the school leaders to continue working hard through encouraging, recruiting, training, and retaining new teachers by acting as good examples to the new generation,” said Radebe.

“At the same time, how we recognise, honour, and show respect for our experienced educators will reaffirm teaching as a profession of nation-builders and social leaders dedicated to our highest ideals.”

Among the winners, was Ms Mokhudu Machaba from Nganamago Primary School in Limpopo, who won the Excellence in Primary Teaching.

Speaking to Inside Education at the event, the Primary school teacher said she felt overwhelmed with joy and dedicated her award to her learners and her community back home.

I love working with children and as a girl child, it was not easy for me going to school so I really do my best for the learners out there because I know what it feels like not to get an education,” said Machaba.

“This award goes back to my learners and my community.”

Thabo Mohlala

Despite attaining high social status Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa has never turned his back on his humble beginnings. This was the common theme that emerged when people close to the new President of South Africa reflect on his personality.

Teachers at Tshilidzi Primary School where his early education journey started were full of praises for his humility and generosity. They described him as calm, peaceful, eloquent and assertive person and more importantly, as someone who practised to the letter the meaning of “ploughing back in the community”.

“He always passes by when he is around the area. He asks about how things are going, about our school needs and he will make sure he contributes something to the school,” said Agnes Mapila, a grade one teacher at the school.

Tshilidzi’s principal, Thinwanga Takalani, said he asked his predecessors about Ramaphosa and all of them have described him as a respectful learner who took his studies seriously.

“I know him to be a generous person and since I took over here, our school has benefitted a great deal from his generosity. And we are not the only school which benefitted but even most schools across the country have. He has helped build us spanking new classrooms, library, laboratory and an administration block,” said Takalani.

When his Shanduka Group business empire burgeoned, Ramaphosa launched the Shanduka Foundation to carry out its corporate social investments. And he identified education as one of the key focus areas by setting up by a Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust. Other initiatives that he established as part of his community investment project include Black Umbrellas and Shanduka Internships all formed to cater for disadvantaged segments of the community.

In 2011 the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation joined forces with Kagiso Trust which boasts an established track record of community involvement, particularly in the education space. The two organisations formed a new bespoke group called Kagiso Shanduka Trust (KST) after they noticed their shared vision and passion on how to help improve the quality of the education system specifically in black communities.

What drew the organisation even closer was the realisation that by pooling their resources they can have greater impact and reach more schools that are in dire need of basic facilities. They adopted a Whole School Development model, which aims to address a whole range of challenges schools face instead of singling out a specific one.

Research conducted by various NGOs including the department of basic education has shown that lack of resources such as proper classrooms, basic infrastructures such as ablution facilities, laboratories and libraries have a direct negative effect on the overall academic performance of the learners. The new model adopted by KST looks at a range of interventions at impoverished schools by working closely with districts.

The programme was first implemented in 2013 in the Free State where KST works closely with the provincial education department and targeted 428 schools in the Fezile Dabi and Motheo districts.

Last month three schools based in the Fezile Dabi district in the Free State yesterday scored big following their good performance in the 2017 grade 12 results. They have each been rewarded with renovated science and computer laboratories.

This is part of the KST’s “Incentivised Infrastructure Award” awarded to schools that have attained or exceeded 90% pass rate benchmark in the province.

Recent outstanding matric results which catapulted the Free State to the number one spot nationally is attributed to the partnership between the education MEC, Tate Makgoe and the KST. Tate heaped praise on the Fezile Dabi as one of the districts that have contributed more passes and thus helped put the province on the pole position.

Thabo Mohlala

Most learners fail maths and science primarily because of the academic language in which the subjects are written and taught. This is according to Catherine Snow, a Distinguished Visiting Professor and Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Professor Snow was delivering a public lecture this week at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in Auckland Park on the importance of reading competence for learning science and maths and other school subjects. The lecture was titled: Improving Literacy by Focusing on Science and Social Studies.

Professor Snow said academic language is designed to use sophisticated and complex grammar that is likely to present a serious barrier to learning and comprehension. She said learners need assistance to navigate this challenge and how to master the academic vocabulary as well as process difficult concepts used in the subjects.

“A major challenge to students learning science is the academic language in which it is written. Academic language is designed to be concise, precise and authoritative. To achieve these goals, it uses sophisticated words and complex grammatical constructions that can disrupt reading comprehension and block learning. Students need help in learning the academic vocabulary and how to process academic language if they are to become independent learners of science,” Snow said. 

If learners, said Snow, struggle to read they will most probably find it difficult to learn science and mathematics in primary school when they are expected to work from textbooks, worksheets and technology-driven devices.

South African learners perform badly at the global benchmark tests notably Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), compared to their counterparts in developing countries. The Human Sciences and Research Council noted that in the last TIMMS test written in 2015, “the proportion of the South African learners who attained ‘intermediate’, ‘high’, or ‘advanced international benchmark levels is worryingly low”.

It also noted, however, that 54% of Singaporean grade eight mathematics learners achieved an advanced level, a very high value compared to 1% of South Africa. The observation echoes the fact most experts have consistently highlighted that countries whose learners perform well in maths and science use mother tongue as a medium of instruction at lower grades of their education system.

Professor Snow is a member of the research team under the leadership of another decorated academic, Professor Elizabeth Henning, who holds the South African Research Chair in Integrated Studies of Learning Language, Mathematics and Science in the Primary School at UJ. 

The research team is looking at developing reading tests in which the vocabulary of science and mathematics will feature prominently. The tests will be in English and will use the terminology of the science and maths school curriculum

The research community, according to Professor Henning, needs to know much more about how the English language is learned and used as a medium of study in school – specifically from grades 4 to 7.

She said: “The majority of our learners at primary school don’t speak English at home. They go to school and are confronted with new concepts in mathematics and science in the English language, which may be their second or third language.

“Therefore, for many children, not only the concepts are new, but also the words and the sentence structure of English. The goal is for learners to understand textbooks, worksheets and apps. Children cannot infer meaning from the text if they do not have some basic vocabulary and some sense of word order and typical phrases in the English language.”

Tariro Washinyira

Cape Town learners are missing school lessons daily because of problems with trains. But there’s no “quick fix”, says Metrorail.

On the Northern line at Parow station learners wait from 6:30am to get to schools in Maitland, Salt River, Cape Town and the southern suburbs. They are often late. Trains are cancelled, delayed and often stop between stations. Sometimes when the trains come after a delay the carriages are so full that the children are unable to board.

Questioned by GroundUp on Tuesday, four learners from Salt River High School said most of the time they missed at least the first two periods of their school day. They had to borrow other learners’ books to copy work they missed. On Tuesday, they arrived at Salt River at 9:30am though they had been waiting for a train since 7am.

A grade 8 learner said she was scared to go to her teachers to ask questions on the subjects she missed. She said the teachers seemed not to understand the problems with the trains. Learners were scolded for being late and sent to detention in the afternoons after school.

A grade 12 learner said she had been late for school every day of last week.

She said she did not feel safe on the train and had seen people being robbed.

“My parents are concerned about the way trains have been operating on the Northern line but we do not have a choice. Trains are affordable. I pay R150 for the whole month for a train ticket as compared to a taxi fare of R13 daily per trip.”

“My parents can’t afford busses or taxis. I am also embarrassed that as Head Girl I need to be exemplary but I am doing the opposite… all because of the trains. Metrorail have let us down.”

When GroundUp took the Northern Line from Salt River on Tuesday afternoon there were people drinking, playing cards and smoking marijuana. There were no security guards or police to be seen.

Commuters using the Century City line and the Southern line also complained about bad service.

GroundUp asked Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott if Metrorail was fixing problems on the Northern, Southern and Century City lines. (The train service on the Central line is suspended.)

Scott answered: “Western Cape is operating at 60% capacity having lost 101 carriages to arson and vandalism since October 2015. As a result punctuality and reliability have declined, forcing many desperate commuters to spill into MetroPlus carriages. The region has only 54 train-sets to service a timetable designed for 84 train-sets hence the many cancellations”.

“There is no quick fix to repair a system left to deteriorate over 50 years.”

Scott said R172 billion had been allocated to modernise the entire rail system over 20 years. New trains for Cape Town were expected by 2019-2020.

“We have recognised that trip durations are longer due to safe operational alternatives that have to be instituted,” she said.

“Like motorists, train users will unfortunately have to rise earlier to get to work/school on time.”

On security, Scott said Metrorail was collaborating with police. “Police/security cannot be everywhere at once – instead they are posted according to predetermined priority areas,” she said.

Noncedo Madubedube of Equal Education (EE) Western Cape and Sinekhaya Mbengo (EE City Bowl) say the organisation is collecting testimonies from learners. “What we can say from engaging with learners is that there are a lot of learners affected. This becomes a financial burden for their families because trains are the cheapest and most convenient mode of transport.”

“Metrorail does not seem to have adequate security personnel which means learners travelling too early or late because there aren’t enough trains running can be robbed and assaulted while waiting for trains.”

“Learners also get home late and are unable to effectively do their homework and catch up on missed class time.”

Published originally on GroundUp.

Joseph Chirume

On Monday, about 80 disgruntled parents, learners and community members attempted to close Sandisulwazi Secondary School in Paterson, Eastern Cape. The protesters are demanding a teacher to teach Afrikaans as a subject.

Sandisulwazi has nine teachers, eight of whom are Xhosa-speaking and one English-speaking. There are 303 learners at the school, 65 of whom are Afrikaans-speaking.

Police arrived and the principal locked the gates to keep the protesters outside of the school grounds. The protest was peaceful with demonstrators singing and waving placards.

Isaac van Louw, a member of the School Governing Board (SGB), said, “There is no Afrikaans teacher since last May. We have held talks with the Department of Education on six occasions. Sadly, the talks have yielded nothing. It’s only promises and promises.”

He said the parents were going “to close the school so as to create an equal playing field for all learners.”

SGB chairman Alfred Salters said Afrikaans-speaking learners who wrote matric last year had failed because there had been no Afrikaans teacher. “We had a total of 121 Afrikaans-speaking children attending the school last year, but at present we are left with 65.”

Salters said people had sent their kids to schools in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, but many parents could afford the boarding fees at those schools.

Irene Billet, a parent, said, “We want the former principal back because he doubled as an Afrikaans teacher. Since he left last May, the school has been dogged by mismanagement and victimisation of the Afrikaans-speaking learners.”

Grade 12 learner Aloma Gouza said, “We are only four Afrikaans-speaking learners in my grade. We sit in an empty classroom when it is time for Afrikaans lesson. Our education system demands that learners have to pass their mother tongue language in order to proceed. I don’t see this happening.”

Ridley Cupino, who is repeating grade 11 after he failed Afrikaans, said, “I am very angry … It is discouraging that the conditions that made me fail last year are still the same … We play rugby when it’s time for Afrikaans lessons.”

Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Mali Mtima said the department was aware of the situation. “We are talking with some retired educators to come out of retirement and assist us. We had the same problem with Sotho and Agriculture, but it was solved. We have students who are training in the Afrikaans language at colleges but they are not yet qualified to teach.”

“We are not giving parents and learners at Sandisulwazi School a timeline but we are hoping the problem will be resolved. We are also appealing to parents not to close the school.”

Published originally on GroundUp.