NYAKALLO TEFU|

The Western Cape Education Department said on Thursday that it will open nine additional vaccination sites for educators on Friday.

This as teachers and non-teaching staff across the country get their first jab of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

“Over 2700 teachers and non-teaching staff will be vaccinated at ten sites tomorrow (Friday) this number will increase to over 4 300 on Monday,” said the department’s spokesperson Bronagh Hammond.

Western Cape education said over 500 teachers received their first jab on Thursday 24 June 2021 at a metro vaccination site.

READ: More than 48 000 people vaccinated on the first day of the basic education vaccination programme

“So far, 25 387 teachers and non-teaching staff have been informed of where they will be vaccinated,” added Hammond.

Hammond said the department is notifying schools directly based on the consent confirmations received.

The department said it is hoping to get a total of 55 200 vaccines for educators for now.

The vaccination of educators come at a time when the country is facing a third wave of the coronavirus with numbers in the past 24 hours at 17 493.

At the moment Gauteng is the epicenter of the virus, with 10 806 of the cases reported in the province.

Despite the numbers constantly increasing, learners and teachers across the country will continue going to school as instructed by the Department of Basic Education.

One of the educators, Ms Sasman, who was vaccinated in the Western Cape urged all educators to get their vaccines.

“I urge everyone of our eligible basic education sector staff members to take this opportunity to contribute to getting our schools back semblance of normality,” said Sasman.

Sasman said while the vaccine cannot stop staff members from getting Covid-19, educators still need to follow safety protocols to protect them from serious illness.

Western Cape education said it is happy with the rollout of vaccines and so far, everything has been going according to plan.

“We again would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Provincial Department of Health who have accommodated our needs thus far. Their support to this important cause is unwavering,” said Hammond.

NALEDI SHOTA| 

On the first day of the basic education vaccination programme, the department said more than 48 000 teachers and education departments staff were vaccinated. 

On Wednesday the sector began its two-week vaccination programme which is expected to end on July 8.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, the department said the Western Cape and Limpopo will start their vaccination programme on Thursday and Friday respectively. 

“All other provinces started rolling out today with KZN vaccinating the largest number and the lowest number vaccinated in NC. NC has decided to send mobile teams to some of their smallest towns to kickstart the campaign,” reads the statement. 

The KwaZulu-Natal department of education said it vaccinated 21 773 teachers and support staff on the first day. 

DBE also rubbished what it called fake news that circulated on social media that the Department of Health is going to run out of vaccines.

“This led to a rush on some vaccine sites particularly in Eastern Cape, North West and Free State,” reads the statement. 

The department said there were enough doses for the targeted population. Those who will be vaccinated in this programme will receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Saturday that the sector was looking at vaccinating about 582 000 people including private school teachers, teacher union leaders and all staff at provincial departments of education as well as the national department. 

NALEDI SHOTA|

Some teachers are still undecided on whether they will be vaccinated while others are excited that they will finally get the jab. 

The mixed reactions come as the basic education vaccination programme starts on Wednesday.

Inside Education spoke to a number of teachers about how they feel about being vaccinated. 

A Free State teacher said he is “nervous” about the inoculation.

“The real reason is because of the things we hear in the media that people who are vaccinated come back complaining or sick,” he said.

He added that other teachers who are older are also nervous.

“We do not know whether it is the real vaccine. There was also that one from PE (sic) that was contaminated. So, we are not sure whether this one is the right one. The whole thing about the vaccination does not sit right with us,” he said.

Adding that he received a text message two weeks ago asking whether or not I was going to take the vaccine.

“I said I would – we do not have a choice. I am sceptical but I am going to take it.

“Eish, but I’m still sceptical. I wish I could get conclusive evidence that it is going to work,” said the teacher. 

A teacher in the Eastern Cape said some of them have lost friends and colleagues through this virus, “and it would have been better if we had been vaccinated sooner. We would have not lost those people,” said the teacher. 

Another said there was an air of excitement at his school. 

“We are ready. People are excited. Let it come, we have been waiting for a long time for this vaccine,” said the teacher. 

A primary school teacher in the Eastern Cape said she has been waiting patiently for the vaccine and is ready: “I can’t wait for our turn. Let it come, we will deal with the aftereffects if there are any,” she said.  

Another said their fear of needles is making them not to be excited about the inoculation. 

 I feel nothing about being vaccinated.  I am not sure I will be vaccinated,  I’m still a bit scared,” said a young teacher at a school in KwaZulu-Natal.

“I hate needles,” she said. Adding that if there was an alternative – such as taking a pill, she would do so without a doubt.

“I’m still contemplating. I’m not saying I’m not going to be vaccinated but I’m still contemplating,” she said.

Another teacher from the Free State teacher said in order to save lives they needed to be vaccinated.

“People are saying this and that about the vaccine but if it is for our benefit as teachers and learners then we will take it,” said the teacher.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Saturday that the sector’s vaccination programme would start on Wednesday and run until 8 July.

She said the sector is expected to vaccinate about 582 000 people and the majority of these are teachers in public schools.

According to reports, there are 395 682 teachers that will be vaccinated. Those to be vaccinated in this programme will receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The educators vaccination programme began amid high spikes of infection rates across the country.

READ: Limpopo education department concerned about the number of coronavirus cases at schools

Just last week, 1077 teachers and 1977 learners tested positive in Gauteng.

On Monday, the education department in Limpopo said it saw a sharp increase of reported Covid-19 cases in the at schools particularly in the Capricorn District.

In May, the South African Democratic Teachers Union said over 3500 teachers succumbed to the virus. The union called for teachers to be prioritised similar to other frontline workers.

But there is still some confusion.

Some teachers have said more clarity is needed regarding the safety of the vaccines.

A deputy principal at a school in KwaZulu-Natal told Inside Education, “We do not know whether there are side effects. I still have not made up my mind.” 

The issue of safety and contamination of the vaccines was recently realised.

Last week, pharmaceutical company Aspen said it was disappointed that specific batches of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine manufactured at its plant in Gqeberha had to be destroyed. 

READ: Unions wait in bated breath for details on the vaccination of educators

The destruction of the vaccines came after an announcement by the United States Food and Drug Administration that some batches of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines produced at the Emergent BioSolutions Plant in Baltimore in America were contaminated.

This issue was quickly resolved. In a statement, Aspen said it will provide 300 000 doses of the vaccine for South African teachers that were not impacted by the contamination. 

READ: Announcement on teacher vaccination to be made this week

On Saturday the acting Director-General for the department of basic education, Granville Whittle reiterated that people who work in schools and who are 60 and above qualify to be vaccinated in the sector’s vaccination programme even though they qualify in the programme that is currently run for the general population. 

According to the department of basic education, there will be 281 sites nationally and by the end of the two weeks 90 480 jabs would have been administered. 

The post Teachers share mixed emotions about being vaccinated appeared first on Inside Education – Inspiring Minds.

NYAKALLO TEFU|

The Gauteng Education Department (GDE) says there is an area in the South of Johannesburg where the wrong vaccines were delivered for educators.

Wednesday marked day one of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine rollouts for educators across the country.

“There is an area in the South where they are assisting adults over the age of 60 and they are using the Pfizer vaccine, unfortunately due to a communication breakdown they were delivered to the site where educators are being vaccinated,” said GDE MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi.

Lesufi said the situation has however been attended to and rectified.

In the next two weeks, more than 125 000 teachers and non-teaching staff are expected to receive their first jab of the J&J vaccine.

“Of that total, 71 726 are educators at Gauteng public schools, 24 492 are non-educators such as clerks, food handlers and teacher union staff.

A total of 10 488 School Governing Body appointed educators and Grade R practitioners in public schools are also eligible for the shots,” said Lesufi.

READ: Western Cape starts teacher vaccination

Lesufi said the remainder 19 678 is made up of educators from Independent Schools.

The vaccine drive will end when schools close on 8 July 2021.

Lesufi was the first to get vaccinated on Wednesday before the educators in Gauteng at Rabashoto community hall in Tembisa.

“It is not compulsory but we highly recommend that educators get their jab, so we want to ask all our educators and staff that they take advantage of this opportunity of a lifetime so that the entire sector can be protected,” said Lesufi.

National Professional Teachers’ Organization of South Africa’s (Naptosa) Basil Manuel said the vaccination of teachers has started off very well and they are happy.

“We are pleased by the large turnout for the vaccination, there were some glitches in some provinces but those were eventually sorted out,” said Manuel.

Manuel said they were not aware of the wrong vaccines being sent to one of the centers in Gauteng but are certain that was dealt with accordingly.

“There has been a bit of unhappiness because remember we only have 300 000 jabs while we wait for more, so some provinces have said all the state paid educators must come first and others to follow,” added Manuel.

Manuel said they have however explained how the process will work and they understand.

“We are happy with progress made at all our 60 sites in Gauteng as no major glitches were reported besides a few challenges that were quickly attended to,” said Lesufi.

READ: All systems go for the basic education vaccination programme

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The Western Cape Education Department said it is ready to begin with its Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine rollout on Wednesday.

According to the provincial department, the Western Cape health department has provided 29 vaccination sites for educators in the province.

The provincial education department’s spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond, said officials, educators, non-teaching staff as well as union representatives will together join in support and promoting the vaccination programme in the Western Cape by taking the single dose the J&J vaccine.

Head of Education in the Western Cape, Brent Walters said the announcement has brought great joy to the education sector.

“We celebrate the news that the rollout has been expanded to include all educators and non-teaching staff at public and independent schools, as well as all districts,” said Walters.

Adding that the vaccines are being transported to the Western Cape and there will be a two-day distribution period.

READ: All systems go for the basic education vaccination programme

The province’s education department said the department of basic education indicated that they will receive 55 200 Johnson and Johnson vaccines.

Walters said they are confident that the vaccination drive will have a positive impact on the education sector.

“This is not only a major step towards recovery, but also a step towards improving the safety of our educators and staff and the provision of better learning opportunities for our learners,” said Walters.

However, he said educators and staff who have contracted Covid-19 in the past 30 days and those who have been vaccinated using another vaccine will not be vaccinated.

Adding that anyone who has received a flu vaccine in the past 14 days will also not be vaccinated.

“Schools are to still register the details of those staff members who are unable to attend due to having contracted Covid-19 in the past 30 days or having recently received the flu vaccines as they will have the opportunity to be vaccinated until 8 July,” said Walters.

Some teacher unions have welcomed the start of the vaccination of educators across the country.

READ: Union calls for educators not to go to work for two days

Basil Manuel, Executive Director for National Professional Teachers’ Organization of South Africa told Inside Education that they hope every educator will take this opportunity to get vaccinated in the next two weeks.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union’s Mugwena Maluleke said educators must know that the vaccination is safe and it works.

Manuel said what we want is that every single teacher irrespective of whether you are governing body paid, state paid or you are in a private school must be vaccinated.

Maluleke said although vaccinations are done voluntarily, it is imperative for teachers to get the jab as they are frontline workers.

Educators across the country are preparing to get vaccinated following the arrival of 300 000 J&J vaccines earmarked for teachers and supporting staff from private and public schools.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that 582 000 people in the basic education sector will be vaccinated from Wednesday until 8 July.

Motshekga said this number includes all teachers in public and private schools, all administrative and support staff in public schools. The number also includes staff of teacher unions, officials in district, provincial and the national department of education. 

READ: Educators to be vaccinated in the next 10 days

The post Western Cape starts teacher vaccination appeared first on Inside Education – Inspiring Minds.

NYAKALLO TEFU|

The University of Cape Town (UCT) says it will start the process of renaming the Smuts Hall residence. 

Smuts Hall residence was named after General Jan Smuts, a South African lawyer and statesman who ultimately became deputy prime minister of the Union of South Africa.

During the war, Smuts was Minister of Defence, Finance and Mines. He served for a time in German South West Africa before commanding the Imperial forces in East Africa for ten months in 1916.

UCT management met at the weekend where they deliberated on changing the name of the student residence on the upper campus.

READ: UCT burns: Classes suspended for the next two days

There are many creative possibilities for reimagining the UCT campus in ways that will build inclusivity and look to the future, they said.

“Over the coming months, UCT will be holding discussions across the campus community about the new name for the Upper Campus Residence, as well as for other buildings,” said the university in a statement.

On Monday, a group of Student Representative Council (SRC) members demonstrated outside the institution calling for the name to be changed. They had been campaigning for the name change for three months. 

UCT council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama said this indicated how far the institution had come under the current executive leadership since the time of #RhodesMustFall.

“Council’s decision will take immediate effect and the name Smuts Hall will be removed from the residence and in the interim the name Upper Campus Residence will be used until the process of determining a new name was formally concluded,” said Ngonyama.

Adding that the changing of names should not be seen as merely replacing what we do not like with what we feel resonates well with us or what we feel we relate better to.

“It should go beyond the view that the names we are changing is a source of discomfort or pain for those advocating for change,” she said.

The post UCT in the process of renaming Smuts Hall appeared first on Inside Education is where you will find the latest education features and news, full coverage in learning, skills, educational methods including teach and leadership..

NALEDI SHOTA| 

Research by the University of Johannesburg (UJ)  has found that in some communities there is hesitancy about the Covid-19 vaccine programme because of  lack of information from the government about vaccination. 

The UJ Social Change Vaccine Rollout Project was conducted in May under the leadership of Professor Kate Alexander, South African Research Chair in Social Change, and published earlier this month. 

A researcher spent three weeks at Protea South, an informal settlement in Soweto. And it is in this community that the research uncovered that some people did not take vaccination seriously and turned it into “ political jokes”, while other people said they would vaccinate when they saw other people doing so. 

“The researcher met with a group of four sangomas, of whom three were opposed to vaccination and only one was in favour. They each had between five and 20 clients a day, so could be ‘influencers’ but also a potential vector for transmission. They did not understand ‘waves’ and were angry about their exclusion from education around the vaccine,” reads the research. 

The research also uncovered that it was difficult for people who wanted to vaccinate to register in that area. There were Community Health Workers who went door to door to register using paper and pencil. 

“Using pencil and paper to register is laborious and some people complained they had registered but had not received an acknowledgment on their phone. The system could be improved by using cheap smartphones to register people. Greater use could be made of unemployed youth, but most of them are hungry and need food.” 

READ: Africa countries have highest global death rate among critically ill Covid-19 patients – says study

The research found that people in poorer communities do not have the right information “to make informed decisions about vaccination”. It found that people with smartphones and computers could read information online in English but this was not the case for people in Protea South. 

According to the research communities like Protea South need information in posters on walls and flyers in their own language, and also coverage on radio and TV. 

“…Even though it is free and relatively easy to register by phone, the steps are not adequately conveyed and, again, messaging has prioritised an online process. People without access to any kind of phone, and there are still many of them, must not be excluded from information and registration,”  reads the research. 

The research  revealed that some people in that community did not have the means to travel to the vaccination site. According to the research, to get to the vaccination site in Lenasia clinic people have to take two taxis at a cost of R44. 

“This is too much for most people in the settlement, so unless transport is provided many will be left unvaccinated, even though they want to be safe, and some will doubtless die as a consequence.

“People with cars and petrol money can drive around vaccination sites until they find a relatively short queue for ‘walk-ins’. This is not possible for poor people, who, as seen in this case study, do not have the funds to reach their nearest site, let alone go from one to another.” 

Some of the recommendations by the research is that the government needs to make transport available to poorer people in order for them to reach vaccination sites. Recruit young people who can help with education and registration, and also provide them with smartphones and data in order to register people

“The position facing the poor of Protea South is very different from that confronting the middle classes in Africa’s richest city. Defeating the virus is not only about securing vaccines, it is also about combatting class division,”  reads the research. 

The post ‘The country’s vaccination programme is classist’, UJ study appeared first on Inside Education is where you will find the latest education features and news, full coverage in learning, skills, educational methods including teach and leadership..

NALEDI SHOTA|

By the end of the two weeks of the vaccination programme in the basic education sector, 90 480 jabs would have been administered nationally. 

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced at a press briefing on Saturday that 582 000 people in the sector will be vaccinated from Wednesday until 8 July. The number includes all teachers in public and private schools as well as administrative and support staff in public schools. 

According to the sector’s vaccine plan document, which the department shared on Saturday, the majority of the people that are going to be vaccinated are teachers in public schools at 395 682.

The majority of these teachers are found in the Eastern Cape (52 844), Gauteng (71 276) and KwaZulu-Natal (92 995). 

There are 40 100 teachers from private schools that will be vaccinated. 

While there are 104 111 non-educators’ staff at public schools that will receive the jab, followed by 42 671 school governing body employed teachers, Early Childhood practitioners employed at public schools.

READ: Union calls for educators not to go to work for two days

On Saturday acting Director-General at the department, Granville Whittle, said that the details of all people employed by government and of SGB employed teachers, as well as those teachers from private schools has been provided to the Department of Health. He said as a result, these people do not need to register to vaccinate. 

However, he said anyone not registered on the system will not be vaccinated.  

“We are talking to health about exceptions that we can pick up as part of a mop up,” he said. 

Whittle said the process of vaccination will also include people over 60 even though they do qualify at the moment for the general population programme. 

The distribution of vaccines to the provinces happened on Monday and Tuesday. 

There will be 281 sites nationally. KwaZulu-Natal accounts for the province with the most sites at 69, followed by the Eastern Cape (41), Limpopo (37) and Free State (29). 

Whittle said there were talks that Gauteng does not have enough sites and that the province was working to rectifying that. 

In a statement on Monday, the Gauteng Department of Education said it had 46 vaccine sites, this is up from 25 that was presented at the Saturday briefing. 

Whittle said mobile sites, instead of fixed sites, will be used in provinces such as the Eastern Cape in order to accommodate people in far flung rural areas.

He said the Eastern Cape has identified a lot of schools as vaccination sites. 

“We are very happy with the progress of the Eastern Cape,” he said. 

He added that the Free State province is at an advanced level in terms of its sites and that the department did not expect any problems in that province. This was the same with KZN. 

Whittle raised concerns about the preparedness of the Northern Cape. He said because of the geographic size of that province, “we are concerned about the long distances so there is additional support that we will provide to the Northern Cape”. 

The department will liaise with principals about the appointment of the school for vaccination. 

READ: The basic education sector to start its vaccination programme on Wednesday

The vaccination plan document states that teachers will not be provided with transport to vaccination sites. 

However, Whittle said schools have been encouraged to make a plan for teachers who might not have the means to reach the sites. 

“We are saying to schools that when it is difficult for teachers to access these sights on their own, then they make a plan to ensure that teachers get to the sites,” he said.  

Uber has offered 100 000 free rides to teachers in the metros to get into the vaccination sites, according to the vaccination plan document. 

Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi will be vaccinated with the first batch of educators in the province on Wednesday at Rabasotho Community Hall in Tembisa.

In a statement spokesperson of the Department of Education Steve Mabona said Lesufi will be joined by the Head of Department Edward Mosuwe, senior management, and representatives from various teacher unions. 

Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal department has said that MEC for Education Kwazi Mshengu will be making a “ground-breaking announcement” on the vaccination of teachers on Wednesday in Umlazi. 

In a statement released on Monday, Motshekga said for the two weeks school communities need to “drop all and vaccinate”.

“We need to work extremely hard and around the clock to vaccinate as many people as possible as sector,” she said. 

READ: Basic education minister says not to worry about the return of school children to full-time classes

In an interview with Inside Education, a teacher based in the Free State who asked not to be named for fear of being victimised said he is willing to be vaccinated.

“We were sent messages by the department [of basic education] and were asked whether we want to be vaccinated or not. The consensus is that we want to be vaccinated because the kids (sic) carry diseases, so it is very easy to fall sick when you work with children.

“The main concern is around the vaccines that will be used. We do not want the contaminated vaccines that we heard about last week or even the ones that were found to cause blood clots.

“Having said that, everybody is willing. We are willing participants in this. However, we are just worried about the fact that they might give us vaccines that have not been properly tested,” said the teacher.

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University of Pretoria’s Nqobile Ntuli and Siphesihle Ntuli are set to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Siphesihle is the men’s hockey team’s assistant coach while Nqobile will be on the field.

Siphesihle – who is seven years older than Nqobile – played for South Africa’s U16 & U18 schools team and the U21 national team. 

Siphesihle was part of the South African men’s senior squad but unfortunately suffered a lower back injury which forced him to retire as a player when he was only 23. 

The two brothers both played football at school, but we ended up preferring to play hockey.

READ: Student athletes vaccinated ahead of the Tokyo Olympics

They said their main goal is to compete every time they play.

“It sets us up for individual flair, and who knows what that may lead to. The nice thing about being South Africans is that we know how to ‘fight’,” they said.

Nqobile said for him, playing hockey for South Africa is like being an “ambassador of hope” for those younger than him.

“I want aspiring young black hockey players to take note that anything is possible if you are prepared to put your mind to it.

“In the past, many thought it was an unrealistic goal to play for South Africa. So every time I take to the Astroturf, it feels like I am representing their hopes,” he said.

Nqobile plays as a forward for the South African national team.

He said he and his brother have also represented South Africa at the previous World Cup Tournament, as a player and as a coach.

“Both of us going to the Olympics is going to make my mom and the family proud again,” said Nqobile.

Denied a shot at competing at the Rio Olympics, Siphesihle said they are very excited to be part of the team going to Tokyo.

He said playing in Tokyo will not only be about winning medals but making a more lasting impression for the sport in this country.

READ: ‘Siyaya eJapan, Tokyo here we come,’ say UJ sportsmen, women in SA squad

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Wits University students will participate in this year’s 3D RoboCup simulation league tournament – a world cup for soccer robots tournament taking place virtually from 22 – 28 June 2021.

The Wits FC team consists of computer science students from the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (CSAM) in the Faculty of Science and is headed by PhD candidate Branden Ingram and MSc student Andries Bingani.

The team is being supported by Associate Professor Benjamin Rosman and Dr Pravesh Ranchod from the Robotics, Autonomous Intelligence and Learning (RAIL) research group in CSAM.

Up to 24 teams will participate in this league that focuses on AI and team strategy.

Teams are also required to submit a conference-style paper which is reviewed by the RoboCup committee.

RoboCup, the world cup for soccer robots, is a major annual event on the artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics calendar with a goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots.

Teams from across the globe compete in different soccer leagues to show their mastery in AI and machine learning. The soccer robots can either be working physical robots or simulation robots.

Rosman said in order for development and innovation to be promoted there is an added requirement that each teams’ contribution contains some element of a novel approach on the problem of RoboCup.

“The code itself should also demonstrate the use and benefit of this new approach,” said Rosman.

Adding that the soccer robots tournament teams are all required to develop and submit a team of independent intelligent moving agents (players) that play soccer on a virtual field inside a computer.

Rosman said RoboCup presents a great opportunity for students to work together as a team and then compete against other students from around the world. Representation from Africa has always been minimal, at best.

“For our team to be able to compete in the tournament is important both for Wits’ representation internationally, and for providing our students with more exposure to international AI and robotics,” said Rosman

Ingram said the Wits FC robotics team have been in development for roughly two years.

Ingram said it was slow going in the beginning as they first had to understand what is available to them to develop their entry.

“Then installing the necessary software packages was difficult at the start but has been worthwhile, they say, because the experienced gained has resulted in them being able to create a far simpler method of doing things.

“These processes were then captured in tutorials that can benefit future Wits teams,” said Ingram.

Bingani said the 3D league increases the realism of the simulated environment by adding an extra dimension and more complex physics.

“We didn’t create the simulation but had to develop the AI and strategy for a group of agents which play within the simulated environment. In other words, we tell the players what to do given a certain situation, but we did not build the stadium they play in,” said Bingani.

According to Rosman these kinds of activities help promote science and technology by providing our students with a fun application of the theory in which they are so deeply immersed in their studies.

“It is an accessible means of outreach to the general public as many of the challenges we tackle in research can be explained in relatable terms,” said Rosman.

Adding that in taking part in RoboCup, they are also hoping to use their experience to help other local universities start their own teams, and then to stablish local leagues and tournaments to further advance science and technology in the region.

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