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Gauteng Education Department Is Ready For The 2021 Matric Exams – Lesufi

GAUTENG Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said on Sunday that the province is ready to commence with the start of matric examinations this week, having implemented strict COVID-19 protocols at all centres across the province.

Lesufi was updating the media on Sunday morning, on the state of readiness for the 2021 National Senior Certificate Examinations.

The Gauteng education department announced on Sunday that the province has enrolled 175,599 candidates to write this year’s matric exams — an increase of 17.55% on last year’s 149,385.

Apart from being ready to handle increased numbers, the department is once again set to ensure that the exam process runs smoothly from beginning to the finalisation of results.

The final exams will start on Wednesday and run until and including December 6 for public schools.

The Class of 2021 will be the eighth group to write the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) aligned NSC exams, and the second to write amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As such, preparations by our department for these assessments are paramount to ensure that they occur conveniently and securely for all qualifying candidates involved,” said department spokesperson Steve Mabona.

He said that of the 175,599 candidates, 132,887 are full-time and 42,712 are part-time students (those who have one or more outstanding subjects to qualify for the National Senior Certificate qualification).

 Lesufi said 1,004 examination centres have been accredited across the province where all registered qualifying candidates will write the exams.

These centres include 652 public ordinary schools, 244 independent schools, 97 adult education and training centres, 8 prisons and 3 designated centres in the province.

“The GDE has also established an extensive network of monitors across the province, having officially appointed and trained chief invigilators and monitors for all the examination centres.

“The invigilators and monitors are sourced from our head office, districts and other education stakeholders, to ensure the administration and management of the NSC examination is fair, credible and run with integrity,” said Lesufi.

He added that security arrangements to safely manage the distribution and collection of question papers and answer sheets were in place.

“We will have printed 2,171,915 question papers for the duration of the examination process. We have ensured that we increase security arrangements around the printing of question papers as a means of mitigating human error and other vulnerabilities.”

The province has selected and certified 30 approved marking venues where marking of examination scripts will take place and 12,889 markers have been appointed as well as 2,514 examination assistants who will do quality assurance of marked scripts to ensure there are no errors in the computing of pupils’ marks.

The first marking session will take place on November 15 and the second on December 7, with everything completed by December 23.

 The GDE also has a standing agreement with Child Line to assist pupils experiencing stress due to exam pressure or after receiving results.

Covid-19 protocols will also see a maximum of 30 candidates in an exam room with 1-metre distancing, mandatory masks, isolation rooms and sanitising procedures.

Lesufi said: “We would like to wish all our grade 12 pupils the best of luck and assure them that they have our full support. Learners are urged to conduct themselves with honesty during the exam.

“Cheating and other exam irregularities may result in a criminal record. Tears and sweat taste the same but will get you different results. Tears will get you sympathy, and sweat will get you change.”

Head of Department for Gauteng Education Edward Mosuwe said security around examination papers has been beefed up to ensure no cheating will take place.

“I can confirm that every time there is a just in the printing of papers, we have improved on the level of security that associated with that, both at a personal level and technology level. Both the DBE and Umalusi have actually given Gauteng approval that we can conduct examinations.”

* Own Correspondent

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Updated Level 1 Lockdown Rules and Restrictions For Schools And Travel In South Africa

THE government has gazetted updated regulations for South Africa’s adjusted level 1 lockdown, including changes for schools and transport.

The changes include the relaxation of restrictions for air travel and updated regulations around school gatherings, sports, and extra-curricular activities.

The changes are outlined in more detail below.

Schools

The following activities may resume at schools with spectators:

* Contact sport, non-contact sport, including training, intra-school and inter-school matches, and all arts and culture intra-school and interschool activities;* Co-curricular and enrichment programmes, such as oral history, spelling bee, moot court, speech contests, debates and school clubs, may resume activities including competitive inter-school events and engagements;* Choir practice or rehearsals and choir competitions.

The following health and safety measures must be adhered to when resuming events or activities contemplated in this direction:

* Face masks must be worn by all persons entering the venues where the activities take place, change rooms or training areas, except when participating in training or matches accompanied by vigorous exercise;* There must be sufficient quantities of hand sanitisers, with at least 70% alcohol content, available for use by all officials, coaches, assistants, learners and participants;* There must be facilities for washing of hands with soap and water;* All windows and doors must remain open to ensure adequate ventilation;* Subject to the requirements of any contact activity, social distancing must be maintained at all times;* The sharing of drinks and drink containers is not allowed;* A Covid-19 compliance officer must be appointed for each venue;* All participants must undergo health and temperature screening before warm-up or an event;* Any person who enters the venue must undergo health and temperature screening;* Hand sanitisers must be available at the entrance gate, and every person who enters the venue must sanitise their hands;* Participants and officials must sanitise their hands before and after a match or event;* A person who leaves the venue temporarily and returns must undergo the process of health and temperature screening and hand sanitising;* For contact tracing purposes only, a register of all officials, learners and spectators from visiting and hosting schools who are attending a school match or event must be kept by the hosting school for at least 21 days.

Domestic travel

An airline operator is allowed to provide pre-packaged catering onboard the aircraft but must take all measures Covid-19 health measures into account.

An airline operator may make complimentary magazines available, which passengers must pick up when entering the aircraft. Passengers are not allowed to share these magazines.

International travel 

A traveller must provide a valid certificate with a negative Covid-19 test outcome, recognised by the World Health Organisation or equivalent local accredited authority, obtained no more than 72 hours before the date of travel.

South African authorities reserve the right to verify the authenticity of the presented certificate.

International scheduled operations and charter flights carrying passengers are allowed at the following airports:

OR Tambo International Airport;King Shaka International Airport;Cape Town International AirportLanseria International Airport;Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport.

Long-haul flight departures and landings at the airports listed above are permitted during the hours of the curfew. However, passengers are required to present a valid boarding pass if stopped by law enforcement.

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2021 Matric Exams Start This Week – With Strict New Rules Around WhatsApp and Messaging

South Africa’s government schools will commence with the National Senior Certificate examinations on Wednesday, with the Department of Basic Education introducing strict rules to ensure that the matric examinations are fair.

This comes after the 2020 examinations were marred by allegations of cheating when it emerged that the Mathematics Paper 2 and Physical Sciences Paper 2 exams had leaked and begun circulating on instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.

The department has indicated that it will be taking a zero-tolerance stance on cheating and sharing exam materials to combat this.

“In cases where a question paper, or part of a question paper, is forwarded by a candidate via email, SMS, WhatsApp or through any other electronic means, and the candidate fails to report such an incident to the school principal or the WhatsApp hotline, he or she will be deemed complicit,” it said.

“All candidates will be required to complete the Electronic Devices’ Register, which will be managed by the school. The register will require all candidates to record all details of the cellphone or any other electronic device that they will be using during the examination period.”

Any student who is alleged to have had access to a question paper before an examination will also be required to submit their device to the Department of Education for further investigation, it said.

A total of 897,786 candidates will sit for the November 2021 matric examinations, with English set to be the first examination held on Wednesday (27 October). The last examination is set to be held on 7 December.

While the examinations were initially scheduled for the start of November, the department decided to move them up by four days to accommodate the local government elections on 1 November.

The department said that the matric exams include 207 question papers written over 25 days, with no vacant spaces available in the five-week period to accommodate the new date of the elections.

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Sports Corner| Spectators Are Now Allowed To Attend School Sports Events

NEW government regulations have been gazetted to allow spectators to attend school sports events.

From Friday this week, spectators were allowed to attend all school and interschool sports matches, training sessions and events. 

School sports events – without spectators – were allowed since August after they were suspended in May amid the third Covid-19 wave.

In addition, all arts and culture intra-school and interschool activities can now allow audiences, including choir rehearsals and competitions, spelling bees, speech contests and debates.

However, stringent rules apply.

Face masks must be worn, including in change rooms and training areas, except by those doing vigorous exercise.

The sharing of drinks is not allowed, a Covid-19 compliance officer must be appointed for each venue and a register of all officials, pupils and spectators must be kept by a hosting school for at least 21 days.

Up to 2 000 people are allowed at outdoor venues and 750 or fewer at indoor venues.

But if the venue is too small to hold the prescribed number of people while ensuring distances of at least one and a half metres between people, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.

The regulations state that the principal of a school or an organiser of a venue who fails to comply with the regulations commits an offence and may face a fine or imprisonment.

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Exam Preparation Tips For The Matric Class Of 2021

Dr. VERONIQUE GENNIKER|

SOUTH Africa’s National Senior Certificate exams are due to commence on Friday 22 October 2021, with the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga expressing positive sentiments in a media briefing, calling the matric class of 2021, a “resilient group,” that “would be able to surprise us with better results than last year.” Undoubtedly, the matric class of 2021 has faced unprecedented difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and have much to do in the way of preparations for the upcoming final exams, which will set a benchmark for those continuing into tertiary education.

“We wish all South African matriculants well as they head into exam season. This year has not been easy for learners, who have needed to overcome several challenges that no one could have predicted. Despite this, we remain optimistic that they will pull through and put their best foot forward as they take a step towards the next part of their varied life journeys as tertiary students, entering the workplace, partaking in the president’s youth employment programs, or even taking up an apprenticeship. We’ve put together a list of helpful tips to help learners through this demanding time,” said Dr Veronique Genniker, Marang Education Trust Director at Pearson South Africa.

5 exam preparation tips for the matric class of 2021:

1.   Create an enabling physical environment to study

The layout, design, and lighting of the space you study in can have a profound effect on how you will think and feel about the preparations for your final exams. Some students can concentrate optimally when they are in uncluttered rooms while others can focus better when they are surrounded by familiar items they associate with feelings of comfort and safety. Some students find background music distracting, while others find that listening to music while studying allows them to concentrate better. Many students do not have the luxury of studying in their own space, so should try to study with a friend or family who can accommodate them. It is heartwarming how many teachers and community members open their homes to make sure that learners have a safe and secure place to study. If you do have the luxury of space, make sure to tap into your spatial awareness and take some time to optimize your study environment by considering aspects like how much natural light filters into the space, how comfortable your chair is, whether you prefer to see a clock while you study and even which pen colours are more stimulating when making notes and mind maps.

2.   Make sure you get enough sleep, eat healthy and focus on what makes you feel calm

Getting 6-8 hours of sleep is important to refresh and energize your body and mind. Breathing is something we all do naturally and without any real effort. However, focusing on the inhalation and exhalation of breath can help to ease the mind and promote a state of relaxation, especially when under pressure. Conscious breathing exercises do not have to take up a lot of time and can be done anywhere. Google “breathing techniques for stress relief,” and try a few of the exercises. You can tailor your exercise to how much time you have. It is recommended that you take a break to breathe consciously for 3-5 minutes at least once every hour, just to oxygenate the body and calm the mind. Eating balanced meals and snacking on fruit with water daily is important to maintain your energy levels.

3.   Set goals for your individual and study buddy sessions

The sheer amount of reading that needs to be done and concepts that need to be grasped ahead of the exam period can be quite overwhelming. Having a timetable for each subject as well as measurable goals for each study session can help to lower stress levels and divide your study sessions into manageable parts. To create a timetable, make a list of all the content that needs to be studied for each subject, then work backwards from the exam date and make sure that during each study session, a piece of that content is covered. Then, dedicate your study sessions to only the parts you have identified for that day and take a break or reward yourself when you achieve those goals. It is important to have individual and study buddy sessions to enable you to discuss content you are struggling with. Find a study buddy who is great with content you are struggling with and who can explain it to you, so that you better understand it.

4.   Use visualisation techniques

Often, the very thought of sitting in an examination hall with other learners in complete silence to sit for a final exam can be very overwhelming and can cause stress and panic. You can reduce some of this stress before you sit the exam, by using visualization (imagining) as a preparation tool. To do this, close your eyes and picture yourself sitting in the exam hall, try to imagine what you will be experiencing on a sensory level – what you see, what you hear, what you smell, etc. Then, wherever you are sitting, do some hand and leg stretches and take a few deep breaths. Picture yourself being calm, feeling confident and accepting that your best is always good enough. Do this at least once a day while you are preparing so that your mind and body are ready for the big day. If possible, ask for permission to go and sit in the examination hall/room before the examination.

5.   Find your ideal learning technique

One school of thought proposes that people learn best through varying stimuli – some people are visual learners, while others are auditory or kinesthetic learners. To find out what your best learning technique is, try a few methods and test what works best for you. If you learn by hearing, then record yourself reading your study notes and play them back to yourself. If you are a visual learner, create colorful mind maps, flowcharts, bullet-point lists and put them up in the room where you study. And if you are a kinesthetic learner, try taking a walk or doing gentle movements while you talk yourself through your content. You know yourself best, so study where, when, and how it works best for you. This is your exam so do whatever works best for you and know that your best will always be good enough.

Dr. Veronique Genniker is the Director of Pearson Marang Education Trust (PMET). She holds a PhD. in Education Psychology, Master’s in Science Education, Postgraduate in Leadership, and a Higher Teaching Diploma. PMET is the flagship Social Impact Programme of Pearson South Africa.

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NSFAS Warns Prospective Applicants Against ‘Funding’ Fake News

THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has advised prospective applicants to be aware of fake websites and social media platforms advising them to apply for funding, share their personal information and/or unlock their NSFAS wallet accounts.  

The warning follows a fake Circular Notice 22 circulating on social media platforms regarding the NSFAS allowance increase for the 2022 academic year.

“NSFAS can confirm that the circular is fake and consists of false information,” NSFAS said in a statement on Friday.

NSFAS said it is disturbed by the increasing disinformation in recent weeks, where false information that is spread deliberately to deceive.

“We encourage our students to be vigilant. We identified all the bogus platforms that masquerade as NSFAS, and we have reported them to the relevant authorities for further investigation,” NSFAS said.

Students, prospective applicants and the public are urged to report suspicious messages or calls from fraudsters posing as NSFAS officials or any fraudulent activities to the Vuvuzela Hotline on 0860 247 653.

Should students require assistance regarding their NSFAS funding, the NSFAS contact centre is fully functional and can be accessible on the details provided.

Applications for 2022 academic year funding not open 

Meanwhile, NSFAS announced that the applications for the 2022 academic year funding are not open yet, and the opening date would be communicated soon.

“Students are encouraged to constantly monitor our social media platforms for updates. Any circular or information that is released to the public through unofficial communication should be regarded as disinformation. 

“NSFAS circulars are released following a vigorous process on stakeholder engagement and can only be released through approved channels,” NSFAS said.

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MTN Launches Ground-breaking Online School For South Africa From Grades R-12

Telecommunications group MTN has launched its MTN Online School, a free online portal that will offer a digital curriculum for school children from grades R-12.

The online school, which the Department of Basic Education has endorsed, offers additional features like video lessons, assessments and extra-tuition lessons for Grade 10 to 12 learners.

The school will also focus on areas such as financial skills, entrepreneurship, arts and culture, and career guidance content, focusing on critical careers where there are skills shortages in South Africa.

Among the key innovations are video lessons that will be provided with a sign language interpreter to accommodate deaf learners.

The portal includes an introduction to the early childhood development curriculum and African storytelling, with over 2,000 stories, to equip children with good reading skills and improve confidence, enabling them to learn and read independently.

“It’s imperative to eliminate digital divide by ensuring that all schools & education offices have access to internet and data within 6 years. During this period, all learners must access digital workbooks & textbooks on a digital device,” Motshekga at launch of MTN Online School pic.twitter.com/TQfngaNpB0

— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) October 21, 2021

The launch of the online school took place in Sandton on Thursday and was attended by the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and MTN SA CEO Godfrey Motsa.

“It’s imperative to eliminate digital divide by ensuring that all schools & education offices have access to internet and data within 6 years. During this period, all learners must access digital workbooks & textbooks on a digital device,” said Motshekga at launch of MTN Online School.

“Our vision for the schooling sector is anchored in the National Development Plan which recognises that education is the cornerstone upon which a nation that provides opportunities for social mobility, equity, social justice and democracy will depend. The MTN Online School is a fit for purpose digital tool to take our basic education to the next level. The online portal is agile, innovative and modern.”  

“Together with the innovation and commitment to societal change by MTN, today’s launch of the MTN Online School is a significant leap forward for education and ushers in positive change for communities across South Africa.”

The integrated online educational portal is supported and housed on the MTN network and is zero data rated for MTN customers, which means it can be used without any data. 

“Digital transformation takes place within a huge ICT ecosystem and for that ecosystem to flourish we need young people to be able to access quality teaching and learning essential to play their part in changing the world. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the urgent need In South Africa for accessible and approved online curricula and we are delighted to deliver the MTN Online School, to do just that.” 

“Our aim is to enable the youth to access educational fundamentals to tackle the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in a manner that allows them to access future opportunities. Today’s launch is a product of great partnerships and shows how together, we can do more, be more and achieve more,” says MTN SA CEO Godfrey Motsa. 

“We believe in the future of SA and the education of the future generation, which needs to accelerate its recovery from the economic and personal devastation of COVID-19 to embrace future opportunities made available through quality education and learning.  The MTN Online School has been developed hand-in-glove with the Department of Basic Education and we are so proud to deliver this portal that will immediately start creating value, for South Africans.”

Among the key innovations, video lessons will be provided with a sign language interpreter to accommodate deaf learners.  The portal includes an introduction to the early childhood development curriculum and African storytelling, with over 2000 stories, to equip children with good reading skills and improve confidence, enabling them to learn and read independently.  

Additional features for FET Phase (Grade 10 -12) include: 

Support to learners after-school, on weekends, during school holidays and dedicated lessons leading up to exams A timetable to drive transparency and structure  Learners can work at their own pace as lessons will be available on-demand Online tutoring service will be provided to learners via a help function interface Pre-assessments (test existing knowledge) Pre-recorded lessons to watch Tutoring sessions  Feedback questions to work through Live sessions presented by a teacher, recap of key concepts, focus on weak areas identified by assessments Post assessments Learner analysis reports Learners can also request help at any time, or submit questions via the platform or WhatsApp chat line.

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Student Who Received NSFAS Millions Back In Court, Maintains Her Innocence

THE theft case against former Walter Sisulu University student Sibongile Mani resumed at East London Regional Court on Tuesday.

Sibongile Mani maintained her innocence, despite admitting she spent a portion of the R14 million credited into her account.

Mani stands accused of theft for spending a portion of the millions credited into her student account on 1 June 2017.

Mani’s lawyer argues that she never intentionally tried to deprive the NSFAS of money. 

The State says she knew she was not entitled to the money – but chose to blow R820 000 in 73 days.

The State charges that Mani failed to report the error and embarked on a spending spree.   

According to the State, between 1 June, when the money landed in her account, until 13 August, when NSFAS uncovered the error, she had spent an average of R11 000 per day.

The money was transferred by Cape Town-based company Intellimali, which was contracted by WSU to disburse funds to its students.

The then accounting student was due to receive her monthly R1 400 food allowance, but because of what was described in court as a “ridiculous and absurd technical glitch”, R14 million was credited to her account. 

On Tuesday, the State prosecutor in the four-year trial, advocate Luthando Makoyi, said Mani had admitted to many aspects of the indictment.

During closing arguments, Makoyi told the magistrate, Twanet Olivier, that Mani admitted she spent the money at 48 merchants in the Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Makoyi added that Mani should be convicted of theft, saying she knew the money was not hers, but spent it.

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Children Between 12 and 17 To Get Their Jab Today, Says Health Minister Joe Phaahla

THE registration and the vaccination of children aged 12 and older is officially open from today, the Department of Health said. 

This comes after the Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, announced that all teenagers would be eligible to receive one dose of the Pfizer vaccine for now.

The decision is in line with the recommendations from the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Vaccines. 

“We believe that this will come in handy as schools start their examinations, while some of them already advanced towards concluding the academic year and studying to prepare for the next academic year of 2022,” Phaahla said last Friday.   

There are about six million youngsters in the secondary school cohort and the department aims to reach at least half before the schools close. 

Due to preparations for final year examinations, the department said there will be no special vaccination sites at schools for this age group for now.

The department has encouraged parents, caregivers and legal guardians to assist eligible young people to register and inoculate at their public or private nearest vaccination site. 

While the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 provides that children over the age of 12 can consent to their medical treatment, the department is recommending that parents have an open discussion with teenagers about the benefits of COVID-19.

The department believes that this will help adolescents to make an informed health choice and possibly accompany them when they present themselves at vaccination sites.  

“Vaccination of young people from the age of 12 is a global phenomenon of which the parents should not be too concerned about.”

All eligible children are reminded to bring along South African ID cards, birth certificates with a registration number, foreign passport or any verifiable asylum or refugee proof of identity bearing the name of the child for purposes of registering on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS).

“Meanwhile, women and young girls aged 12 and older should be encouraged to vaccinate during any stage of their pregnancy and breastfeeding.”

In addition, the department recommended that healthcare workers share with vaccinees about the benefits and possible risks of COVID-19 vaccination with their clients.  

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Universities Must Rethink How They Do Research To Imagine A Better Trajectory For The Future – Professor Laura Pereira

PROFESSOR Laura Pereira did not exaggerate when she said she would be a giving a presentation from “a slightly different angle”. Billed as one of the international plenary speakers at Universities South Africa (USAf’s) recent conference, The Engaged University, Pereira’s background is not in higher education.

A researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, the Exxaro Research Chair at the Global Change Institute at Wits University, and a lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition at Stellenbosch University, Pereira (left) is described as “an interdisciplinary sustainability scientist”, having been trained in ecology, law, zoology and human geography.

Titled The role of academia in imagining better futures for people and planet, her presentation was peppered with quotes, from the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, to the contemporary Nigerian poet and author Ben Okri, to futurist Riel Miller, Head of Futures Literacy at UNESCO.

This is our context

She said her talk was contextualised within the geological age of the Anthropocene, where humans have become the most dominant force of change on the planet.

We are in a time where climate change is getting a lot of attention, especially with the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, taking place in Glasgow from the end of October. And the CoViD-19 pandemic epitomises the disruption in human nature relationships we’re needing to deal with.

“The role of the university is particularly important in this, but it probably needs to adapt and shift to be able to have the kind of impact that the previous speaker Professor McCowan (of University College London) was talking about,” she said.

She quoted Lao Tzu to illustrate the “very poignant argument when we talk about the sustainability crises we’re facing as a planet: ‘If you don’t change direction, you may end up where you are heading’”.

Thinking about the future and the way to envisage it differently

It can be quite difficult to conceptualise the future, as it is a very dystopian world to think about, she said. This is particularly true if one looks at projections of what’s gone before, such as carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, and their impacts. “What are the tools, the mechanisms we can use to envisage something different?” she asked.

She quoted Riel Miller to support this view: “When the future is predicted from the probable unknowable, it’s often derived from outdated assumptions”. Pereira said this is indicative of massive transformations seen in the past, where 50 to 60 years ago the ideal of the mobile technology revolution and smartwatches telling us we need to stand up every hour would have been science fiction but are the reality we’re living now.

“So how can we train ourselves, and how can we provide curricula and courses to build some capacities to help us navigate these different futures we’re going to be facing?” she said.

The projected, probable, or plausible future vs the preposterous one

Academics, especially in the natural sciences, are used to talking about the projected future and current trends. They are even comfortable predicting probable trends based on what has happened before. This can be extended to thinking about the plausible future, which can be seen in assessments such as the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in August, even if everyone’s idea of what is plausible is subjective.

Now, however, we need to start opening to the idea of the preposterous future, “if we’re going to be able to navigate into the 21st century and beyond, both as academics but also just as citizens,” she said.

The preposterous future can become reality: 60 years ago, the idea of the internet would have seemed preposterous, so too would the idea of being able to get onto the moon seemed preposterous 100 years ago.

Research in participatory futures and multiple knowledges

Pereira said the university sector needs to invest quite a lot more in what is known as participatory futures research that is transdisciplinary, not only between different disciplines, but also with actors beyond academia.

This idea of participatory futures is what sociologist Ruha Benjamin, Associate Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, refers to in the quote: “Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within”.

She said it was important to get out of our ivory towers and recognise there are
multiple knowledges out there, and “not only a Western positivist scientific idea of knowledge”. This idea of knowledge co-production is important, not in the sense of integrating all this knowledge, but weaving them together, without consensus, “without losing what makes each of them quite particular,” she said.

Research in decolonial futures

Quoting Wits academics Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall: “Africa is absent from the future. In almost every future, dystopian utopian, there is a continent-sized hole in the story. In fact, Africa often ends up epitomising the intractable, the mute”, Pereira said we need to start decoding colonial futures. That is, we need to start “to tell narratives from different parts of the world with different peoples, and backgrounds, and ways of being and experiences being brought to the fore.

“How can we build these alternatives? How can we put African futurism and where we want to go as a continent or as a country or even just as city, like Johannesburg, onto the international stage, so that the global community is engaged with them in a way we have to be engaged with a lot of the dominant stories told to us?”

Why universities need to cultivate imagination

She described the university as “a home to hold these conversations, and to create a space for bringing different perspectives together, and focusing on the imagination, which is a capacity that I think we don’t really use all that much, particularly in the biophysical sciences”.

She quoted Ben Okri to support her idea: “Knowledge is empty without imagination, without spirit, without the heart … no civilization ever became great on knowledge alone.”

She said “imagination helps us transcend conventional thinking, to envision the kinds of new possibilities we know we require, if we’re going to navigate onto a better, more sustainable and just trajectory for people and the planet”.

Imagination also helps us think in a novel way, she said.

If we continue to do things in the same way, we are going to be perpetuating inequalities and injustices both to people, and to nature.

“We really need to be seeing the university as a space for cultivating imagination so that we can start telling ourselves different stories across all of the different disciplines,” she said. And this should not be confined to literature or the humanities. “We all need to start working in this space,“ she said.

In making her final point, she quoted from The Economist in 2011: “Humans have changed the way the world works. And now we have to change the way they think about it too”.

Q&A

The chair of the session, Chris Nhlapo, Vice-Chancellor of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, asked a question about plausible futures.

Question: “I’ve seen some of your work as well, talking about traditional knowledge as a source of innovation, and perhaps you can critically reflect on the role of traditional knowledge in social innovation, and how we can actually explore that as a system.”

The response: “The first thing that needs to be done is to recognise that it’s not just work that comes out of the university that can be seen as innovative. There are a lot of practices from the past that are very innovative for us to be able to move into the future.

“The second step is to give a value to these traditional knowledge systems. I’ve been working quite a lot with traditional ecological knowledge, particularly in the food system, and there’s been a big movement towards recognising the important role that indigenous crops such as sorghum play within South Africa, in terms of its adaptive capacity to drought and environmental change, but also as being a highly nutritious grain. So much knowledge embedded in how people from the region had previously grown and used sorghum has been lost, that we need to bring it back.

“A really important caveat to this process is about recognising the kind of historical erosion that the colonial system, but also neoliberalism, has had on these knowledge systems; and that we can’t be extractivist again, we can’t just be taking, taking more and more and more from these systems that have been highly traumatised,” she said.

“Making sure that the people who hold the knowledge are recognized for what might not necessarily be in terms of intellectual property. But we need to think through, in much more careful ways, how we can make sure these knowledge systems are resilient and recognized as innovative interventions towards better futures.”

* USAF