Category: Education

With the imminent threat of climate change, South Africa has laid the foundation to enable climate education in schools but there are areas of improvement that have been identified.

“Climate education in South Africa has a lot of structures in place. The Department of Basic Education and its partners have done a tremendous amount of work in laying the foundation to enable climate education in South Africa,” Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) Head of Programme and Projects, Cindy-Lee Cloete, said on Friday.

She was addressing a webinar on children’s involvement in climate change action.

Cloete said some of the areas of improvement identified include the need to change the approach to education.

“If we are going to completely immerse ourselves in campaigning and fighting for our communities against the impacts of climate change, we have to take a different approach to education.

“We have to look at how we bring children’s voices and the youth into spaces that do not link to tokenism, and engage them in a meaningful way so that their voices are heard,” Cloete said.

She applauded the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for recently launching the Strategic Framework on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which includes environmental education.

SADC — which includes Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe — has agreed to imbed the framework into the education journey of schoolchildren.

Cloete said the country’s education should look at advocacy and action, as these areas will matter for the youth as they transition into a just and sustainable world.

According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) data, only 53% of countries had climate change education in their national school curricula, and 70% of learners could not explain climate change.

UNESCO says part of the problem is that globally, school education is done through the passive transfer of knowledge.

However, Cloete said, education needs to “adopt active methods that generate advocacy and agency”.

“For climate education to be effective in the country, we need to look at how we [develop] agency and empathy in the learning journey, especially through climate education.

“We also need to look at environmental justice, social justice and economic justice, as a focus for climate education and inclusion.

“No one needs to be left behind. Climate education needs to be a life long journey for children in Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDs), all the way to the elderly. We need to include them to protect the ecosystem,” Cloete said.

WESSA works with about 700 schools in South Africa to bring messages on climate change both in and out the classroom.

“We want to create a movement of people caring for themselves and the Earth, and we do that through citizen action, which includes messaging and campaigning,” Cloete said.

Department of Basic Education Director for Social Cohesion and Equity in Education, Likho Bottoman, said climate change issues have been dealt with in the curriculum, although the department has received criticism on teacher development as in some instances, teaches are not adequately prepared.

“At times, teachers do not have teaching aids and content gaps have been identified, as teachers do not have teaching aids to deliver the content to learners.

“We have now have developed Life Orientation textbooks that have a section dedicated to climate change, and we hope these textbooks will be finalised by the year 2023 so that schools can use them.

“Going forward, as the department, we are going to have to look at ways to support the curriculum, such as developing manuals or scripted lesson plans that are aligned to the Life Orientation textbook and the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document,” Bottoman said.

He commended the work that has been done by partners that have collaborated with the department on climate education.

“We are working with our partners in civil society, business and other government entities on climate education because we realise that if we miss the opportunity of imparting climate change knowledge at school level, we might just be adding to the problem of climate change.

“We are far behind where we are supposed to be, in far as response mechanisms to climate change are concerned. We need to catch up, be more efficient, effective and economical about the responses and mechanism to respond to the issues of climate change. We require all stakeholders and partners involved to share resources in this space,” Bottoman said. 

Source: South African Government News Agency

Western Cape public schools paid over R36 million in bank charges in 2021

Western Cape public schools paid a total of over R36 million in bank charges last year, at an average of R23 572 per school.

However, this average obscures a number of significant outliers: 40 of our schools have reported paying over R100 000 per year in bank charges, with the top 10 highest bank charges alone totalling over R1.5 million in 2021:

While account holders must pay for services rendered, we would like to ensure that school funds are primarily spent on learners’ education, especially where our no-fee schools are concerned.

The Department has written to the 10 fee-charging and 9 no-fee schools with the highest charges for their input regarding the expense, and what assistance they would like from the Department to help them reduce the charges.

We have also reached out to senior managers of some of the major banks on an informal basis to discuss the situation, and I appreciate their willingness to examine the issue to find ways to reduce the costs. I will be engaging formally with the major banks for their assistance once all of our data is collated.

We will offer schools our support in finding ways to reduce this cost, so that learners receive the full benefit of investments in education.

Source: Government of South Africa

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, will address the University of Zululand’s Inaugural Conference on African Thought, which will be held under the theme “Advancing African thought”

The conference is being held in pursuance of the strategic plan of transforming the University of Zululand into an authentic African university where epistemologies of the Global South and indigenous African knowledges are privileged. 

As UniZulu’s contribution to the broader struggle for the total emancipation of African people, the university is taking bold, deliberate and calculated steps to renegotiate and re-contract with the local, provincial, national, continental and planetary publics through a paradigm shift from the alienating colonial model. 

The engagements and interventions of the conference are planned towards this end and will contribute to a clear roadmap for systematising, operationalising and modelling African thought at UNIZULU. 

Source: Government of South Africa

The Department of Basic Education has noted with disappointment the continued media reports about plans to introduce unisex toilets in schools, saying “it is not entirely true that the Department is proposing unisex toilets.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the department said the media reports are based mainly on an initial draft discussion document, which has since evolved following consultation before it is published for public comment.

“This is a matter blown out of proportion, which may have arisen from the consultations that are currently underway on the Guidelines for the Socio-educational Inclusion of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) in Schools.

“The narrow focus on unisex toilets is unfortunate, as it misses the bigger debate on the elimination of gender discrimination in all spheres of society and specifically creating a socially conducive and welcoming environment in schools,” the department said.

The department explained that the document used in the media reports is actually under consultation, it asks pertinent questions about inclusion of sexually and gender diverse children pertaining to school admission, curriculum, co-curricular programmes, uniform and facilities.

“It is not entirely true that the department is proposing unisex toilets. Instead, the department is probing the relevant response mechanisms to ensure the constitutional obligation for socio-educational inclusion of sexual minorities, and avoid the currently overwhelming litigation,” the department said.

What gave rise to the draft guidelines?

a) It is the violation of human rights and discrimination perpetrated against children of diverse sexual and gender identities, whether intentional or unintentional.

b) The litigation that provincial education departments had to deal with relating to this matter.

c) School governance issues faced by School Governing Bodies on these matters.

“It was clear that although we have an unambiguous Constitution and inclusive education policies and legislation, schools needed an instrument that would help them avoid violation of children’s rights,” the department said, adding that it needs to ensure children of diverse sexual and gender identities enjoy the education system like any other child.

The document provides some international and regional frameworks that create an enabling environment for United Nations, African Union, ESA and Southern African Development Community Member States to carry out diversity and inclusion work in education and training.

Constitutional and education policy mandates that protect children of diverse sexual and gender identities are also stipulated.

“The bigger part of the document is an exploration of how the education system supports schools to create a safe and caring environment so that all children may experience a good living and learning experience without discrimination or prejudice, highlighting SOGIESC in particular.

“The petitions conducted by some political parties are premature because a formal public engagement process will take place once the current phase of consultations are concluded,” the department said.

The department has appealed for calm as the matter is still being processed in terms of the normal protocols.

The guidelines are still undergoing district consultations as recommended by the Council of Education Ministers and will be published in 2023.

Source: South African Government News Agency

#ClassOf2022: Crib notes and cell phones do not go unnoticed by our invigilators!

We are not yet halfway through the 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, and we have already received 14 reports of candidates allegedly bringing cell phones or crib notes into their exam venues.

This clearly demonstrates that our monitoring processes are working, and that our invigilators are well-trained to keep a close eye on the conduct of candidates during the exam.

Each reported incident will be thoroughly investigated, and the candidate in question is given the opportunity to make representations to a hearing following the exam session. The candidate will also have the opportunity to appeal the finding from the hearing.

Candidates cannot claim to be unaware of the rules, as they were required to sign a Commitment Agreement before the beginning of the exam session which outlined the rules of the exams, and the consequences of being caught.

It is imperative that candidates carefully check their pockets for notes or cell phones before they sit down to write, as “forgetting” that they were carrying these items is unfortunately not an excuse.

The candidate risks being disqualified if found guilty, and potentially barred from up to three future exam sessions.

Cheating is simply not worth it!

While we have not had any reported incidents of paper leaks to date, we remind learners that they must report any information they receive about suspected leaks. This was also covered in the Commitment Agreement. It is important to stress that being involved in exam leaks can have consequences for other learners who did not cheat, too, as they might have to rewrite the paper through no fault of their own.

Please, let us all make sure that everyone has a fair chance in these exams, and not do anything to compromise the integrity of the exams.

Source: Government of South Africa

Cheers to 88 KZN Sommelier learners

The Department of Tourism today hosted a graduation ceremony for the Wine Service Training Programme in KwaZulu-Natal and welcomed the new cohort of 88 sommelier graduates to populate the talent pool in the tourism value chain.

Wine-pairing is fast becoming a service on offer at many establishments, and the demand is growing. The development of this niche sub-sector aims to enhance the hospitality experience in creating a multi-sensory culinary adventure.

For this reason, the Department allocated a budget from the Expanded Public Works Programme to the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces to deliver a Wine Service Training Programme during the 2021/22 financial year.

The programme aimed at training 252 unemployed youth from KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape in the hospitality related Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality and Sports sector education and Training Authority (Cathsseta) Skills Programme, namely Bar Attendant (SAQA ID HSP/BarAtt/2/0027) and Drink Service (SAQA ID HSP/DSRVA/2/0024). Learners also received training from the Sommelier Academy (South African and International Wine and Wine Ambassador) and South African Sommeliers Association (Introductory Sommelier Certificate). It entails three months theory training and nine months experiential training at the workplaces

The training commenced on 1 November 2021 and the learners exited on 31 October 2022. Today, learners were issued with Skills Programmes certificates accredited by CATHSSETA, Sommelier Academy and S.A. Sommelier Association.

Graduates were elated at their achievement and shared their sentiments. Twenty-year-old learner, Yashiel Birkramchud from Phoenix, stated: “This has been a positive and empowering experience for me and I will encourage other young adults to apply for this programme.”

Nothando Khuzwayo (26) from Ballito echoed this, saying: “I consider myself very lucky to be equipped with these invaluable skills and am forever grateful to the Department of Tourism.”

Although the programme was successfully implemented, it was identified that learners would require additional training to be multi-skilled and acquire further job opportunities e.g. barista, wine farm tourist guides, entrepreneurship and management skills.

The Department continues to advance the tourism and hospitality experience and reaffirms its commitment to training and development which will yield many happy returns and that will contribute to the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan. This intervention plays a major role in the tourism value chain.

Source: Government of South Africa

Public sector strike should not affect Western Cape matric exams

We can assure parents that we have taken every precaution to ensure that the matric exams will not be affected by the planned public sector union protest action on Thursday 10 November 2022 in the Western Cape.

The Western Cape Education Department’s Head of Department, Brent Walters, met with our teachers’ unions and a public sector union recently. The teachers’ unions assured us that they will not be participating in the strike, so our exam administration in schools should not be affected.

We have contingency measures in place in the event that any public sector staff members choose to participate in the strike.

This comes after Public Servants Association spokesperson, Reuben Maleka, stated earlier this week that:

“There is an understanding that all other services, including the possibility of disruption of some of the education sector, which is unfortunate. Teachers are also members.”

We again appeal to everyone, including members of the public sector unions, to put the best interests of our matrics first. We must treat our matrics as VIPs for the remaining few weeks of the exams.

The Class of 2022 has already had to overcome two years of disrupted schooling during their Grade 10 and 11 years. And they are now dealing with the challenge of load shedding, which makes an already stressful time even more stressful.

The fact is that our matrics already have enough on their plate without having to worry about strike action.

So far, matric exams have proceeded without major incident.

Let’s keep it that way!

Source: Government of South Africa