Will artificial intelligence mean the end of doctors? AI is merely a useful intelligent tool, just like magnetic resonance imaging. AI will not replace radiologists; instead, it is spawning a new discipline that requires the understanding of both medicine and technology.

In his book Deep Medicine, Eric Topol writes: “Eventually, doctors will adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms as their work partners. This levelling of the medical knowledge landscape will ultimately lead to a new premium: to find and train doctors who have the highest level of emotional intelligence.”

Recently, a cohort from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) went on an exploratory partnership trip to the US. Intriguingly, Topol’s words spoke to the crux of the trip. For some time now, UJ has toyed with the idea of starting a medical school. Yet, we knew this offering had to differ vastly from other medical schools in South Africa.

I have long been an advocate of the use of digital technology in higher education. A few years ago, my colleague Bo Xing and I detailed the changes that higher education institutions needed to adapt to keep up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As Xing and I wrote, “Higher education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (HE 4.0) is a complex, dialectical and exciting opportunity which can potentially transform society for the better.”

We have certainly witnessed a hastening of this during the Covid-19 pandemic. Naturally, a new medical school would have to speak to this shift. The medical field is embracing AI with open arms, and so are medical schools.

Our 10-day US trip, covering Case Western University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Thomas Jefferson University, indicated that the injection of digital technology into the curriculum is quite remarkable. For instance, manikins that simulate medical conditions are used to ensure students have practical experience from the get-go. Elsewhere, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) provide a more holistic and immersive experience for students.

The University of Illinois even launched its first AI in medicine certificate programme for hospital workers last year, indicative of the shift towards reskilling that 4IR promotes. Another lesson was that rethinking the packaging of knowledge holds great promise. Much like the US, UJ intends to offer medicine to students who have completed a relevant undergraduate degree. As the proliferation of the 4IR has already demonstrated, a mix of stackable skills is key for the future of work.

Although these exciting shifts are accompanied by great fear and trepidation, we must adapt. As a university, we already encourage reskilling and upskilling to meet the demands of the 4IR. For example, doctors could benefit from courses in engineering to enable them to use AI technology.

Google clinical informatician and research scientist Martin Seneviratne asked at a conference in 2019 why, given the enormous amount of AI research, doctors are not currently understanding and using machine learning.

“Will AI mean the end of doctors? Most researchers couldn’t disagree more,” he said. He added that doctors who employ AI would replace doctors who do not use this technology.

AI is merely a useful intelligent tool, just like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). AI will not replace radiologists; instead, it is spawning a new discipline that requires the understanding of both medicine and technology.

A study by The Lancet Digital Health suggested that the diagnostic performance of deep-learning models is equivalent to that of healthcare professionals. In 2018, a custom-built AI machine designed to diagnose brain tumours and predict hematoma expansion scored 2:0 against its human competitors, comprising 15 senior doctors from China’s premier hospitals. In 2019, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at San Francisco announced that they had created an algorithm that can detect brain haemorrhages with an accuracy higher than two out of four radiologists.

This week, Boston University School of Medicine researchers found that AI may be as accurate as clinicians in diagnosing dementia. In fact, the AI model surpassed clinicians at differentiating the type of dementia in patients who had been diagnosed.

This does not mean doctors are obsolete. Instead, AI takes over many of the time-consuming and tedious aspects of the profession while faster and earlier diagnoses give doctors scope for more patients. As Topol argues, AI’s significant opportunities include reducing errors and workloads, accurately diagnosing diseases such as cancers and fixing the precious and time-honoured connection and trust.

A 2019 study in the Annals of Family Medicine shows that primary care doctors spend, on average, two hours on administrative chores for every hour they spend in direct patient care. Physicians reported an average of between one and two hours of after-hours work per night, usually on administrative tasks. Then, of course, there are limitations to current AI technology which is focused on reading pictorial scans such as ultrasounds, X-rays and CT scans.

As The Lancet Digital Health puts it, “Scans are never interpreted on their own, they’re analysed alongside blood results, historical data, prescriptions from GPs and previous hospital admissions, referral letters, taking the patient’s history and then taking it again, what the nurse told you before they went on their lunch break, and any number of other sources of information.”

This, in part, also addresses concerns of a shortage of doctors, particularly in the public sector. For example, the increased speed and accuracy of cancer diagnostics through analytics that can characterise tumours and predict therapies has not replaced doctors, but rather, quickened their efforts and given them the space to attend to more patients.

New technology will decrease the cost of healthcare worldwide. Almost two-thirds of healthcare costs come from non-communicable diseases, like cancer and heart failure, which, if caught early, can be treated more effectively and for less cost.

Amid these shifts and in our quest towards the creation of our own medical school, there are two key lessons we must bear in mind.

First, in an ever-shifting context and with the proliferation of digital technology, we must adopt technology that adequately prepares our students for the future of work but also gives them a more well-rounded higher education experience. We already have extensive experience with technology and blended learning models that can be replicated and improved on.

Second, we have to emphasise the importance of partnerships.

The movement and enrolment of staff and students across higher education institutions in various parts of the world challenge perspectives and allow us to learn from each other. As the economist Ricardo Hausmann tells us, this is the key to skills-building and employment creation in the country. The future of medicine and education alike is rapidly changing in front of us. As the pandemic has demonstrated, this is an opportunity we must jump at in order to stay relevant, and as UJ’s tagline reminds us, we must constantly reimagine the future.

The views expressed in this article are that of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect that of the University of Johannesburg. This article first appeared on https://www.uj.ac.za/

The University of Limpopo’s (UL) Sesotho sa Leboa Lexicography Unit and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) have set aside R950 000 for a research project that will investigate and document 15 dialects spoken by various communities in Limpopo Province, in preserving and enriching the Sesotho sa Leboa language

The research project is led by the Sesotho sa Leboa National Lexicography Unit at UL, a subsidiary of PanSALB, and the project will run for the next 12 months.

Director of Lexicography Unit at UL, Motlokwe Mphahlele, stated that their research aims to source archaic and cultural words and domains in order to capture the meaning of those dialectical words in a General Monolingual Dictionary.

“This is a way of preserving both our dialects and the indigenous knowledge system that our dialects are rich in; some of those dialects will be reduced into writing for the first time,” Mphahlele explained.

The research project has already begun and will involve visits to various districts of Limpopo where various dialects of the Sesotho sa Leboa language are spoken by various communities.

Mphahlele noted that among the 15 dialects that will be documented are SeMamabolo, Setlokwa, Sepulana, Khelobedu, SeMoletji, Sekone, Sehananwa, Sekororo, Setebele-Sotho, and SeMatlala.

The unit has recruited thirteen (13) language interns to serve as project foot soldiers. Promise Themane, the project’s intern and researcher, stated that the opportunity will prepare her to be a researcher and language specialist.

“I am delighted to be a part of the incredible team putting together a Sesotho sa Leboa monolingual dictionary.  It is an honour and a privilege to be entrusted with the retention and preservation of the Northern Sotho language, particularly its dialects, as is the vision of PanSALB. I believe this work will provide me with experience and exposure in the field of research and lexicography,” Themane concluded.  

Thobelang!
Here’s a video from the Sesotho sa Leboa National Lexicography Unit, introducing the language and where it is spoken. We have a full range of dictionaries for Sesotho sa Leboa available for purchase now on our website: https://t.co/kqi3g3wRPB#SesothosaLeboa pic.twitter.com/Ed1JJcEkaR

— SA National Lexicography Units (@SALexiUnits) June 24, 2021

Reuben Maake

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is one of the partners in a €40 million (approximately R718 million) three-year research project that aims to develop and improve next-generation catalysts that will play a large role in decarbonising the aviation sector by creating sustainable aviation fuels.

Professor Michael Claeys, the director of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis at UCT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, is the principal investigator of the UCT team that is partnering on the Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene (CARE-O-SENE) project, which is led by Sasol and Germany’s Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy, HZB).

CARE-O-SENE is a German–South African research project which will see seven German and South African partners working together on fuel catalysis research and technology development. Their goal is to make large-scale production of green kerosene possible by 2025.

“The aim is to decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long term.”

“The CARE-O-SENE project is about making the future fuel for aviation,” Professor Claeys said. “The aim is to decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long term, by focusing our research efforts on the catalysts that are needed to produce green kerosene on a commercial scale. We are undergoing a huge change in our global energy systems, and every country has to play a role in that. If we can replace kerosene with a defossilised alternative, carbon dioxide emissions will be greatly reduced overall. If we are successful, this research will make it possible for the aviation industry to become carbon neutral.”

The project’s goal of producing sustainable aviation fuels more efficiently relies heavily on Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology, which is a way of converting synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide to hydrocarbon products. 

“While conventionally kerosene is made directly from oil or indirectly from coal or natural gas as fossil-starting materials, sustainable fuels can be made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide from hard-to-abate industrial, biogenic or atmospheric sources. 

“Our catalysts speed up chemical reactions, making it possible to produce more fuel and improve the quality of the end product. I have worked closely with Sasol, the forerunner in industrial FT technology, for many years, and it is a privilege to work with them and our other international partners on this important project. The technology needed to develop sustainable fuels at large scale from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources is an area in which South Africa can become a world leader,” Claeys said.

Funding released in October

With the project’s funding being released in October, the group’s research can now get fully under way. Claeys’ team will ultimately comprise seven or eight people, including two professors, two postdoctoral fellows, two PhD students, and other researchers. The UCT team’s work will focus on finding ways of improving the catalysts being used.

“These catalysts have to be stable over a long period of time so that it makes sense to use them on a large scale. The UCT team studies them at working conditions; we run reactions over the catalysts and have developed tools that allow us to characterise how they change in the reaction environment. We want to understand how the catalyst functions so that we can optimise it and ultimately make it usable on an industrial scale.”

According to Claeys, the three-year timeline is unusual for a project of this scale which aims to commercialise a catalyst, but the team has vast experience and expertise on its side. “Luckily, Sasol is very heavily involved, and they already have a lot of catalysts they’ve developed. 

“So, our international consortium is building on this expertise. If we were starting from zero, this type of project would take 15 to 20 years.  Also, we have to act faster these days in order to make the energy transition a reality.”

Ramaphosa at launch

The CARE-O-SENE project was announced at a ceremony held at Sasol’s global headquarters in Johannesburg in May, with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in attendance. 

Speaking at the launch, President Ramaphosa highlighted the importance of green fuels for global sustainability, and for South Africa’s economic recovery.

“The Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene project focuses on the development of catalysts for green jet fuel.

“This is one of the several areas of cooperation between companies, universities, and government agencies on the technology that will in the end shape and reshape our economies,” Ramaphosa said. 

He added that the government had chosen the economic path of pursuing green hydrogen options “to further develop our economic development. 

This includes the opportunity to supply green hydrogen to the European Union, which is looking to import ten million tons a year by 2030 … The development of a green hydrogen economy is a national economic priority for us.”

Other CARE-O-SENE project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and INERATEC GmbH, with €30 million in funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and a further €10 million by Sasol.

Claeys, who’s been working with and researching Fischer-Tropsch processes since doing his PhD thesis on the topic 25 years ago, said South Africa and Sasol are world leaders in the technology, and it is exciting to be part of a team and a project that could play a key role in creating a more sustainable world.

And although the timeline is tight, he thinks CARE-O-SENE is on track to change the world.

“I believe we ought to be able to do it in three years. We are building an excellent team here at UCT, and our partners are leaders in the areas of the work that they are tackling. It’s an honour to work with some of the best in industry and academia on such an important project,” Claeys said.

– SIERAAJ AHMED

This article was accessed from www.news.uct.ac.za.

Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted to approve a measure condemning the country’s notoriously abusive government-funded residential schools for indigenous children as a genocide on Thursday.

“Today I lift up survivors, families, and communities who have sacrificed so much in order for people across Canada to know the truth; that what happened in residential schools was a genocide,” Winnipeg Center MP Leah Gazan, who introduced the motion, said in a statement following the vote. She thanked her fellow lawmakers for “recognizing the truth of Canada’s history.” 

“I look forward to working with the government to ensure the will of parliament is honored by formally recognizing residential schools as a genocide,” she continued, adding that “survivors deserve no less.”

The motion states that the schools, which the Canadian government forced some 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children to attend between the 1870s and 1997, met the UN’s definition of genocide, meaning an intention to destroy “in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.” 

While popular understanding of the term generally interprets it to mean killing members of the targeted group, the definition also includes “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group,” and “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” 

While Gazan had previously attempted to introduce such a measure in June, it failed to receive unanimous assent the first time. Lawmakers’ shift in opinion could be attributed to the words of Pope Francis, who used the word “genocide” to describe the schools – many of which were run by the Catholic Church – after his visit to Canada in July.

A 2015 report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission detailed egregious physical and sexual abuse, poor living conditions, and malnutrition at residential schools, describing them as “cultural genocide.” Some 3,200 pupils were found to have died from tuberculosis and other diseases, though the real number is believed to be higher. Despite some 37,951 claims by survivors of sexual or physical abuse, fewer than 50 former staffers were ever convicted of abusing the students. 

The schools uprooted indigenous children from their families and communities and sought to assimilate them into Canadian society, including through religious conversion. While the Roman Catholic Church operated about three-fifths of the schools, they did not have a monopoly on converting the natives – the Anglican Church operated a quarter of the schools and the United and Presbyterian churches split the rest. Students were strongly discouraged from adhering to their cultural traditions, often even receiving new names.

–

Former Wits Chancellor and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke says the university has produced great leaders in the past and must continue doing so in future.

Universities in South Africa have a leading role to play in the socio-political landscape of South Africa, where a dire lack of political leadership is dragging the country down.

Moseneke, who said recently that South Africans need to “rethink how we relate to the state” and move away from “statism”.

“We need to go back and tach our people how to look inward; how to grow their own vegetables; how to build their own homes; how to paint them when they get dirty; how to pick up their litter, and their dignity will be restored – not by a ruling elite that is ever-evasive and ever-and often unethical.

“We must, in other words, cultivate a system of progressive activism, because we have no reason to trust those who call us ‘our people’, and in vain promise us that they will eradicate triple burdens. We have no business in believing in the ruling elite. We have no business to be this gullible,” said Moseneke.

Speaking at Wits University’s Founders Tea during the university’s Centenary Celebration, Moseneke said universities must take a lead in the reformation of the country.

“Universities must remain a safe crucible of independent and critical thought. You must remain a bastion of research and new knowledge. You must continue to hone generational succession of leadership that is informed, that is ethical, that is people centric, that is development centric. 

“A true university must be an incubator for social, industrial and financial innovation. A true place of higher learning and teaching must all the time be asking ‘why all the poverty around us? Why is poverty increasing? Why is it so stubborn? Why is it so endemic? Why are there fewer and fewer people who are capable of being innovative – creating new wealth and new ways of better living?’.”

Universities must also be probing the social arrangements that continue to burden the country, like why are our public institutions so fickle, so susceptible to subversion and inaction, and, why is there such a “damning leadership” deficiency in the country?

“If you care to watch the discussion in parliament, you would know just the level – the low, low level – of leadership that we have to stomach and suffer.”

Quoting former Wits Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Habib who said South Africa’s single biggest bane or curse is a paucity of quality leadership, Moseneke said that Habib should have qualified this statement by saying there is no quality leadership “within politics”.

“Our biggest curse is just not having the kind of leaders that we need most at a time that we have to make the most of our conceptual notions of our just, good democratic society.”

Naming the names of several leaders who came from Wits University, such as Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and Duma Nokwe, Moseneke said that Wits has produced great leaders in the past, and should be able to produce them again in future.

“So as Wits celebrate’s its 100th year, it must continue to produce more and more special leaders, because that is what we need most.”

Following up on Moseneke’s speech, Wits Vice-Chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi said while South Africa has great leaders, they are not in politics. Naming leading academics such as Professors Glenda Grey and Shabir Madhi who helped government mitigate the impact of COVID, Vilakazi said you can find many “wellsprings” of leadership in the academic and private sector, and that unlike in the past, you don’t find the top students going into politics anymore.

“The Greek warrior leader Pericles said: ‘If you run away from politics, politics will come to you’, and ‘if you are not interested in politics, you will find yourself being ruled by your intellectual inferior’.”

This article first appeared on Wits University website.

Researchers have a number of responsibilities when embarking on their work – not least of all to ensure participants are not harmed and are fully heard.

Academic research is not always abstract or theoretical. Nor does it take place in a vacuum. Research in many different disciplines is often grounded in the real world; it aims to understand and address problems that affect people and the environment, such as climate change, poverty, migration or natural hazards.

This means researchers often have to interact with and collect data from a wide range of different people in government, industry and civil society.

These are known as research participants. Over the last 50 years, the relationship between researcher and participant has fundamentally changed.

Previously, research participants were viewed merely as objects of study. They had little input into the research process or its outcomes.

Now, participants are increasingly viewed as collaborative partners and co-creators of knowledge.

There are also many ways in which they can engage with researchers. This shift has been largely driven by the need for research that is relevant to today’s world as well as greater recognition of the diversity of people and cultures, and the internet, social media and other communication tools.

In this context, ethical research practices are more important than ever. However, guidelines and standards for research ethics vary between country and institution.

Expectations may also vary between disciplines. So, it’s a good time to identify the key issues in human research ethics that transcend institutional or disciplinary differences.

Issues to consider

I am a long-time chair of one my institutions’ research ethics committees, and I do research ethics training for researchers and managers across southern Africa. I have also published on research ethics. Based on this experience and drawing from other work done on the topic, I suggest there are five critical ethics issues for researchers to consider.

Managing vulnerability: Research participants, especially in the developing world, may be potentially vulnerable to coercion, exploitation and the exertion of soft power.

This vulnerability may arise because of systemic social, economic, political and cultural inequalities, which are particularly marked in developing countries.

And it may be amplified by inequalities in healthcare and education. Some groups in any society – among them minors, people with disabilities, prisoners, orphans, refugees, and those with stigmatised conditions like HIV and AIDS or albinism – may be more vulnerable than others.

This issue can be managed by considering what the participant group is like and by making sure that the data collection process does not increase any existing vulnerabilities.

Obtaining informed consent: This is a key precondition for participation in any study. Potential participants should first be informed about the nature of the study and the terms and conditions of their participation. That includes details about anonymity, confidentiality and their right to withdraw.

The researcher then needs to ensure that the potential participant understands this information and has the opportunity to ask questions. This should be done in a language and using words that the person can understand.

After these steps are taken, the participant can give informed consent. Informal (verbal or any other non-written) consent is more appropriate if participants are not literate or are particularly vulnerable.

Protecting people: The overarching principle of protecting research participants was articulated in the landmark Belmont Report. The report emerged from a national commission in the US in the 1970s to consider research ethics principles. It called for researchers in any study to demonstrate non-maleficence (the principle of not doing harm) and ensure that they protect both participants and their data.

This can be done at different stages through the research process: by decreasing the potential for risk or harm through careful study design; by providing support or counselling services to participants during or after data collection; and by maintaining confidentiality and anonymity in data collection and reporting. Finally, personal data must be protected or de-identified if they are being stored for later analysis.

Managing risk: Potential sources of risk or harm to participants should, as far as possible, be identified and mitigated when the study is being designed. Risk may arise in any study, either at the time of data collection or afterwards. Sometimes this is unexpected, such as where data collection becomes more dangerous due to civil unrest or under COVID-19 restrictions.

It is important that researchers provide the details of support or counselling service for participants in case these are needed. Any trade-offs between risk and benefits can be considered through a risk-benefits analysis. But researchers should be realistic about any potential benefits that may result from their study.

Championing human rights: Researchers have responsibilities: to their disciplines, funders, institutions and participants. This means they should not merely be passive analysers of data.

Instead they should be positive role models in society by seeking solutions, advocating for change and upholding human rights and social justice through their actions.

Research activities, especially those involving participants, should address and find solutions for local and global problems. They ought to result in positive societal and environmental outcomes. This should be the context for all types of research activities in a 21st century world.

Making it happen

Increasingly, there are national and international codes of research ethics, guiding researchers in different fields. An example is the 2010 Singapore Statement on Research Integrity.

It emphasises the principles of honesty, accountability, professional courtesy and fairness, and good stewardship of data. These are the characteristics not just of ethical researchers, but of good researchers too.These principles and processes should make research less risky and protect the rights of participants by building trust between researchers and participants.

These principles can also help in making research more transparent, accountable and equitable – critical in an increasingly divided and unequal world.

Jasper Knight, Professor of Physical Geography, University of the Witwatersrand

This article is republished from The Conversation.

An Australian state has voted to pass a bill that would introduce harsh penalties for men who remove condoms during sex without the consent of their partner, an act colloquially known as ‘stealthing.’

The South Australian (SA) parliament passed the bill on Wednesday, joining other Australian states including ACT, Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales, which have also outlawed the practice. Anyone convicted of stealthing could potentially face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The legislation, dubbed the Criminal Law Consolidation (Stealthing) Amendment Bill, was introduced by SA MP Connie Bonaros, who described ‘stealthing’ in a statement as a “repugnant” and “disgusting act of betrayal.”

“Such grotesque acts of indecency deserve to be treated in the same manner as rape and a crime punishable by terms of imprisonment,” Bonaros said.

A study of 10,000 people conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology last month reportedly found that as many as one in three women and one in five gay men had been stealthed at least once.

While it’s expected that the introduction of criminal liability for the act of “stealthing” may deter potential offenders, some have raised concerns that not many people are even aware of the term.

Stealthing is a particularly intricate type of sexual violence because the definition, by default, means that you have consented to having protected sex with the perpetrator, meaning you probably had positive feelings towards that person,” the director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Sex and Gender Equality, Chanel Contos, told The Guardian last month.

She went on to call for the introduction of a national curriculum on consent and respectful relationships and to harmonize Australia’s laws on stealthing in order to “facilitate education and public awareness that stealthing is a form of sexual assault.”

– RT.Com 

South Africa now has a new 24-hour, state-of-the-art regional space weather centre, which was launched in Hermanus, Western Cape.

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande, described the launch as a historic development and illustration of the country’s excellence in science.

“It is yet another demonstration that the DSI, together with its agencies, continues to respond to the socio-economic challenges of our country by using science, technology and innovation as a catalyst and catalyser for economic development.”

The department’s entity, the South African Space Agency (SANSA), developed the new centre, which is also the only one in Africa.

SANSA’s space weather centre provides an important service to the nation by monitoring the sun and its activity, and by providing space weather forecasts, warnings, alerts, and environmental data on space weather conditions.

Through SANSA, Nzimande said the department now has managed to improve the coordination of South Africa’s space arena to maximise the benefits of current and planned space activities.

During the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal, Nzimande said the agency provided satellite imagery to the National Disaster Management Centre and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to support the disaster response and understanding of the level of damage.

The same service was provided at the Jagersfontein mine waste dam that collapsed.

“The space weather capability that we are launching is a direct response to our good safety track record, which led to the International Civil Aviation Organisation selecting SANSA as one of the two regional centres to provide space weather services, including solar storm forecasts and warnings to the global aviation sector,” Nzimande said.

Development agenda

The unveiling is part of the overall strategy to position science, technology and innovation at the centre of the country’s developmental agenda.

SANSA’s mandate is to promote and use space and cooperation in space-related activities, foster research in space science, advance scientific engineering and develop human capabilities in space science.

It also includes supporting for the creation of an environment conducive to industrial development in space technologies within the framework. 

The establishment, which was completed by end of September 2022, took three years to build.

The centre includes infrastructure development, instrumentation deployment, product and service development, and skills capability development. 

The total investment, according to the Minister, amounted to R107.5 million over the three years, which included a ring-fenced establishment grant of R70.89 million received from the DSI and R36.6 million invested directly by SANSA.

Space

Through SANSA’s researchers, South Africa has a growing international footprint and impact on new research within the space sector.

SANSA has since ensured its increased focus on transforming the space sector through skills development and public outreach.

“SANSA also has a role in international space cooperation, for example, we are currently negotiating with NASA for the establishment of a tracking and telemetry station in Matjiesfontein in support of future lunar exploration,” the Minister said.

The space agency, according to Nzimande, continues to implement activities targeting women in science and previously disadvantaged youth, while inspiring future space scientists and entrepreneurs through its public engagement programme.

“Thousands of learners have, through the years, engaged with SANSA experts at science and career festivals, school visits, science centres, and now even online.”

The Minister said he is heartened to witness the contribution of SANSA to the people and the global space industry.

“Examples of this important economic role of SANSA include its work in the agricultural economy through the use of open and big data for vegetation condition and stress monitoring, crop and other vegetation assessment, estimation of cropped arable land and production area statistics, above-ground biomass and yield estimation, and agricultural drought assessment and monitoring.”

Meanwhile, he said the agency contributes significantly to the national economy and job creation.

“We must promote this centre as part of tourism,” said Nzimande. 

– SAnews.gov.za

The Western Cape High Court heard arguments on both the challenges and opportunities regarding the collaboration schools model, which the provincial government argued makes high quality no-fee education available to over 12 300 learners in poor communities.

Today is day 2 of our #PublicSchoolDemocracy case. We are asking the court to:

1. Declare that the introduction of collaboration schools, donor-funded schools and intervention facilities clashes with the Constitution. #WCSchoolsLaw https://t.co/LOs4XrKfwK pic.twitter.com/0BYZxpLENJ

— Equal Education (@equal_education) November 3, 2022

“When the action was instituted, our collaboration schools were just getting off the ground. Since then, the model has produced excellent results, with learners having access to incredible learning opportunities.

Our collaboration school donors have contributed to the value of over R325 million to our schools to date, a contribution to our education sector that might otherwise not have been made. Of the schools using the model, 10 are new schools, offering over 8 300 no-fee school places to learners.”, provincial MEC of Education David Maynier said.

We must stop SADTU/Equal Education from shutting down our collaboration schools!

Read more here: https://t.co/KmPh2wrXFX pic.twitter.com/dOFKrTLbAp

— David Maynier (@DavidMaynier) November 3, 2022

Lawyers representing Maynier urged the court to stop Equal Education, and the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) from shutting down collaboration schools.

Although parents must give permission for learners to be sent to these facilities, learners themselves are not given enough of a say in this decision. There is no court oversight in this process, which is very important because of the serious risk to a learners’ rights. pic.twitter.com/yynLuiEwGq

— Equal Education (@equal_education) November 2, 2022

2. Declare that collaboration schools, donor-funded schools, and intervention facilities clash with the South African Schools Act.
3. Declare collaboration schools, donor-funded schools, and intervention facilities unlawful. #PublicSchoolDemocracy #WCSchoolsLaw

— Equal Education (@equal_education) November 3, 2022

EE is asking the court to:
* Declare that the introduction of collaboration schools, donor-funded schools and intervention facilities clashes with the Constitution. #WCSchoolsLaw #PublicSchoolDemocracy

— Equal Education (@equal_education) November 2, 2022

Equal Education (EE) is represented by the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC).

Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier says it is unfortunate that an organisation like Equal Education is challenging the validity of the province’s collaboration schools model, which he said makes high quality no-fee education available to learners in poor communities.

On Wednesday Equal Education (EE), represented by the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) presented heads of arguments in the Western Cape High Court challenging “potentially dangerous changes” made to Western Cape education law. 

“When the action was instituted, our collaboration schools were just getting off the ground. Since then, the model has produced excellent results, with learners having access to incredible learning opportunities.

Our collaboration school donors have contributed to the value of over R325 million to our schools to date, a contribution to our education sector that might otherwise not have been made. Of the schools using the model, 10 are new schools, offering over 8 300 no-fee school places to learners, the Western Cape education department said through a media statement. 

The Western Cape Provincial School Education Amendment Act of 2018 (the Amendment Act) has changed the Western Cape education law in major ways, the court heard. 

“It has made it possible for two new types of schools to be established – collaboration and donor-funded schools – where donors and private entities are given significant control of public schools in a way that undermines the principles of democratic governance and accountability,” Equal Education argued Wednesday. 

Equal Education says the Amendment Act has also made possible the establishment of intervention facilities for learners found guilty of serious misconduct. Learners sent to intervention facilities can be separated from their family and community for up to a year.

“We are challenging the introduction of these three institutions because the law around them is vague, is inconsistent with the Constitution and in conflict with the South African Schools Act (SASA),” Equal Education and Equal Education Law Centre said in a joint statement.  

Maynier said his department is seeing a positive trend in systemic test and matric results at schools, but said it is not the only reason the model is valuable. 

He added that learners at collaboration schools also benefit from access to opportunities made possible by the involvement of operating partners.

The involvement of operating partners allows additional resources to be brought in, like career guidance counsellors and mentors, partnerships with non-governmental organisations promoting the mental health and wellbeing of learners, resources for remedial education, teacher training, support for the school’s financial management, and other interventions to support teaching and learning.

“The model has also allowed communities to become more involved in establishing schools that serve the unique needs of their community. This kind of direct parental involvement can only benefit our education system, and our learners.

“One need only look at collaboration schools like Apex High School, Jakes Gerwel Technical High School, and Boundary Primary School, to see the benefits that the model offers, Maynier said. 

The NGO told the court that it is not opposed to testing innovative education models, but recognise that experimentation in education is a very sensitive undertaking as it involves the lives and futures of learners.

Click here to listen to Tarryn Cooper-Bell, Senior Attorney at Equal Education Law Centre.

The case continues on Thursday.

– Inside Education