THE Department of Basic Education needs to urgently consider changes to South Africa’s school system to make up for teaching time lost during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is according to new research by Stellenbosch University, which shows most learners in South African schools missed at least three-quarters of a school year over the course of 2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns, school closures and rotational timetables that were introduced to maintain social distancing in classrooms.

Conservatively estimated, learners have fallen 40% to 70% of a school year behind earlier cohorts in language and much more – 95% to 106% of a school year – in mathematics, the researchers said.

To address these issues, the researchers recommend several interventions:

Extra time

Mathematics deficits due to lost time amount to at least a year of learning in all grades. Extra time is required for Mathematics at all levels to catch up on the year lost.

The researchers added that mathematics and language are gateway subjects, forming the basis for learning in all other subjects.

As such, additional time for catching up on these subjects should be sought. Where feasible, time allocations for other subjects should be reduced or non-core subjects suspended or integrated into other subjects in order to free up time for language and mathematics.

Timetables

Any catch-up programme requires additional time. One way that this can be achieved is to strengthen the use of existing instructional time.

As schools return from the disruptions of the past two years they need to be supported in maintaining regular school days and normal timetables.

Shorter days (for the foundation phase or on Fridays) should not be permitted. Careful regulation of school days during examination times must be undertaken to ensure that terms run their full course and a maximum number of school days are utilized for instruction.

The district and circuit managers have a crucial role to play here, the researchers said.

Less homework and other cutbacks 

Attention to addressing backlogs in reading and number sense in the Foundation Phase is a priority. Teachers must be supported in utilising existing resources and making sure that learners have the opportunity to take reading material home.

In subsequent phases, the overfull curriculum and homework tasks in other subjects should be reduced to allow learners to give more attention to catching up in Mathematics and Language.

In other words, the instructional load of all subjects apart from Mathematics and Language needs to be reduced. This will require discussion and coordination amongst staff in schools across subjects and grades.

Benchmark tests 

Diagnostic assessments of learners’ knowledge to identify gaps should be done by individual teachers.

The government could assist teachers by providing quality benchmark assessments and assistance to teachers in interpreting the results of these tests.

Teaching assistants 

The sole task of the educator assistants should be to work through the previous year’s DBE Rainbow workbook with individual learners.

This will provide, especially struggling, learners with one-on-one instructional and effective support.

Trimming 

The Department of Basic Education needs to attend to the trimming of the curriculum as a matter of urgency.

Certain learning areas/topics should be omitted or consolidated, and others delayed. The focus should be on mastering those skills and concepts that are necessary for progression in learning in subsequent grades.

As an example, in mathematics, definitions of three-dimensional shapes can be left for later grades while core foundational content is mastered.

BUSINESS TECH

THE Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) conducted a meeting with homeschooling and online school providers on the 2nd of June 2022.

This is the first meeting where the GDE reached out to service providers in the home education sector as part of stakeholder engagement and relationship building.

Chriselda Mosibudi-Makhubela, the Director for Independent Schools at the Gauteng Department of Education, expressed the objective of amplifying the voices of learners that are home educated, as well as those of the key stakeholders to work towards turning around the prior views on home education.

South Africa has seen a surge of online schools opening in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some online schools were already established pre-pandemic due to a natural growth in the home education market inherent in the country, whilst others developed in response to the perceived demand in the market for online schooling.

In the US, online schools have been well attended for a few decades already and have seen mature and well-developed online schools emerge as viable and important alternatives for numerous students across the states.

Pre-pandemic there were over 375 000 students between the ages of 6 and 18 attending state-wide full-time online school programmes, a number that has almost doubled for the 2021-2022 school year in the US.

In South Africa, the numbers are not that clear and pre-pandemic estimates of 100 000 homeschoolers have increased dramatically to more than 300 000 according to the Department of Education.

Chriselda Mosibudi-Makhubela has previously indicated that up to 4% of learners can be home educated in South Africa.

The director also expressed that the GDE is very interested in doing research to learn more about home-based education and to improve on assessment and curriculum provision in Gauteng, especially for home education.

With the growth in the interest in home-based education, accelerated by the pandemic, many online schools have emerged.

At the meeting on the 2nd of June it became evident that clearer guidelines and frameworks are required to establish a minimum standard to ensure that all learners get the best possible education from homeschooling providers and online schools.

The different curriculum providers and homeschooling providers present at the meeting had varying levels of maturity of internal processes, curriculum delivery, and assessment structures.

Wingu Academy was encouraged to see that our processes and standards are high and aligned to policy and guidelines available and we are excited to share what we have found to be effective in our approach to online distance learning.

Wingu Academy is formally inviting collaboration with national and local departments of education and wishes to support the core values that Director Chriselda Mosibudi-Makhubela shared at the meeting of “excellence, compliance and relationship building”.

Wingu Academy is optimistic and welcomes the pending regulatory framework to be approved by the end of October 2022, and the opportunity to forge a strong relationship with the GDE.

“At the meeting Wingu Academy extended an offer to support the Gauteng Department of Education with our in-house expertise in curriculum mapping to assist with smoother transitioning of students between International and the CAPS curriculum to make it more accessible for students to transfer between home education and public or independent schools where needed.” explains Ian Strydom, Managing Director of Wingu Academy.

“Wingu Academy has been applying the policy on home education and has simultaneously aligned all internal processes and quality assurance measures with the local and international requirements of traditional independent schools, and are ready to adopt any further recommendations by the Department of Education.”

“The Academy is registered with the South African Comprehensive Assessments Institute (SACAI) as a distance education provider for the CAPS programme it is currently offering, and is a registered Pearson Online Centre for the International British Curriculum.”

“The Academy is also finalising the registration of an independent school in its network awaiting final feedback from the local department of education and as such has comprehensive alignment with the available guidelines from the Department of Basic Education.” Strydom concludes.

BUSINESS TECH

A DOZEN South Africans dressed as mermaids and mermen frolic in a Johannesburg pool, mimicking the movement of the mystical sea creatures.

Mermaiding is a fast-growing sport worldwide, and now South Africa has its own school to teach it — the “Merschool”.

Before diving in, students each slip on a brightly coloured fabric tail ending in a monofin.

The swimmers are black and white, from 13 years old to in their forties. They include a schoolteacher, a yoga instructor and even an accountant.

“It’s lots of fun,” says mermaiding instructor Izelle Nair.

“It’s for fitness, it’s for fun, it’s for fantasy, it’s therapy — but most of all, mermaiding is a sport.”

In the water, students undulate up and down the pool perfecting their dolphin kicks, or practise sculling — hand movements to propel the body also used in synchronised swimming.

“We swim with a dolphin technique and we use sculling, and then we put it all together and we work out a little sequence,” Nair says.
To be a mermaid — or merman — all that is required is a little technique, some breath-holding skills and a love of costumes.

Underwater, students attempt to perform a graceful aquatic backflip.

Nadia Walker, another mermaid coach from the world of synchronised swimming, says both sports have much in common.

“The back rolls, some of the warm-ups and activities that we do, come from swimming,” she says.

The school hopes to send at least one contender to next year’s World Mermaid Championships in China — and that one day the discipline will become an Olympic sport.
— AFP

As African universities pursue enhanced graduate employability, job creation and knowledge transfer for sustainable development, they must be entrepreneurial in teaching, increase entrepreneurial orientation within study programmes and support start-up companies – along with innovative initiatives to promote cooperation with business.

This emerged from interviews with speakers at a workshop on 19 May titled, ‘From employability to job creation. How to create effective university-business ecosystems in Africa’. It formed part of the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022) themed ‘Reinventing Higher Education for a Sustainable Future’.

Status and significance

Professor Patrick Shamba Bakengela, the director of the Congolese German Centre for Microfinance at the Protestant University in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told University Word News that there is limited cooperation between universities in Africa and the business sector.

“Sometimes, business is invited to participate in conferences, but it is not sufficient,” Bakengela added.

Improved cooperation, he said, “will help to improve the situation in Africa through enhancing graduate employability and job creation”.

Mark Vlek de Coningh, the team leader of partnerships and programmes at the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation, or NUFFIC, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, and Christoph Hansert, the head of the Development Co-operation and Transnational Programmes at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), in a message to University World News said university-business cooperation fosters opportunities and creates livelihoods for young Africans.

“African universities must not be isolated from the needs of African society … [they] have an important role to play in supporting the development of countries and communities,” De Coningh and Hansert said.

Expanding further, consultant Alvira Fisher, the former director of Stellenbosch University LaunchLab in South Africa, which functions as a business accelerator and boosts entrepreneurship on campus, told University World News: “Collaboration between African universities and the business sector offers a great opportunity to make a difference.

“It seems relative to other entrepreneurial thriving economies that Africa still has material strides to take to reach an effective ecosystem between higher education institutions and the private sector.

“University-business cooperation can be a game changer as graduates hold a unique combination of theory and next-generation reality when leaving university and the business sector, [in turn], has the know-how and skills to harness these new and young skills to find innovative ways to bring enhanced change into the industry,” Fisher said.

Challenges

Bakengela said the main challenge facing university-business cooperation in Africa is a misunderstanding on the areas of cooperation in a win-win situation because, sometimes, universities are seen as producing theoretical knowledge, whereas businesses are seen as focusing on the practical aspect and ignoring theoretical aspects.

“In Africa, we must improve our understanding between theory and practice … a good theory is the understanding of [the] causality of things – it is practical, not theoretical,” Bakengela explained.

“The curriculum is sometimes not adapted to challenges seen on the ground [within the business sector] in Africa,” he added.

Fisher added that “finding time to communicate and create a flowing dialogue is another challenge facing university-business cooperation in Africa”.

“Little insight is gained when information is implied,” Fisher pointed out.

To be business-ready, Fisher said, African university graduates needed a lot of support when completing the academic process as there are often workplace, marketplace and consumer skills deficits that will form the bases of the next steps a graduate has to undergo.

“Supporting entrepreneurship and job creation provides the private sector with the workforce needed along with helping in kick-starting the career of the future professional significantly, allowing them to flourish with confidence rather than taking time to learn from failures,” Fisher added.

An integrated approach

De Coningh and Hansert also emphasised the need to consider learning pathways more holistically.

“An integrated approach, which also brings in business, venture capital and mentorship by businesswomen and men, both nationally and internationally, is needed.

“A good example could be to incorporate fully accredited quality internships as part of university study programmes to link business fundamentals with education fundamentals.

“Setting up business incubators and units for promoting industry-university relations at all levels will also support knowledge exchange between the different parties,” they said.

An interesting example could be the Higher Education Institutions and Business Partners in Germany and in Developing Countries programme that was organised by DAAD, and funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to De Coningh and Hansert.

The programme is intended to promote the transfer of knowledge between higher education institutions and industry in order to contribute to the interlinking of institutions of higher education and industry and to expand the dialogue.

It includes several African countries, namely, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia.

Towards effective university-business ecosystems

To tackle challenges facing university-business cooperation in Africa, Bakengela said new solutions were needed to help poor people to access the economy through cooperation between African universities and national, regional and international businesses.

“We should encourage formal cooperation between university and business, mainly, to create a disruptive innovation that we enable people that are excluded to have access to new products and markets,” Bakengela indicated.

He also suggested that universities in Africa have to be entrepreneurial in teaching and must give students the opportunities to experiment ideas in the market and if possible to sell their ideas to businesses.

Fisher added that “sponsored engagement connecting stakeholders must be established, shared agendas and strategies across sectors must be formulated and establishing new initiatives to create training grounds for new innovations from within the academic sector to find a way to test theory in the reality of business” [was necessary].

“Other approaches include establishing online tools designed for collaboration and making connections across geographies possible along with organising programmes that not only bring stakeholders together, but create a strategic connection point to tackle sector problems collaboratively,” Fisher suggested.

To set up effective university-business ecosystems, Fisher stated that “African universities must also increase entrepreneurial orientation within study programmes and support start-up companies through the early introduction into practical entrepreneurial steps to undertake as entrepreneurship is more than just a brilliant idea and what we see online on social media”.

“Work towards value creation takes a lot of work behind the scenes if this can be added to academic learning. We might get a head start with our programme graduates on the continent,” Fisher emphasised.

“University-business ecosystems exist in Africa but, as entrepreneurial practitioners, we should challenge ourselves on whether they are accessible enough and if entrepreneurial ideation is given enough social capital to survive the journey,” she concluded.

UNIVERSITY WORLD NEWS

IT is a dismal situation for the South African labour market, warns University of the Western Cape (UWC) economist, Professor Derek Yu, as the Statistics South Africa’s 2022 Quarter Labour Force Survey first quarter data has been released on 31 May.

Yu noted that South Africa will have a very tough time ahead, just to revert to the pre-COVID labour market level, not to mention to promote youth employment and entrepreneurship more rapidly in the years ahead.

He said the current overall trends show, upon examining people aged 15-65 years at the time of the survey, that the number of employed decreased by close to 1.5 million between 2020 in the first quarter – just before lockdown started in the last week of March 2020 – and 2022 in the first quarter.

In addition, the first quarter of 2022 was a time when half of the SA adult population was either partially or fully vaccinated, while unemployment increased by 0.79 million. Furthermore, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) dropped by 3.5 percentage points, most likely because some people felt discouraged from seeking work anymore due to the disruptive lockdown restrictions.

This happened while the unemployment rate went up by more than 4 percentage points to 34.5%, from 30.1% in the first quarter of 2020.

“We can be almost 100% certain that the National Development Plan (NDP) labour market goal of dropping the country’s unemployment rate to 6% by the end of 2030 will not be achieved unless a miracle happens and the unemployment rate speedily drops by 3.5 percentage points per annum in the next 8 years,” said Yu.

“Already experiencing a stagnant real GDP annual growth rate of about 1% per annum in 2014-2019, South Africa suffered an abrupt 6.4% decline in real GDP growth in 2020, before enjoying a growth of “only” 4.9% in 2021. At the time of writing, the International Monetary Fund predicted that South Africa’s real GDP would only increase by a moderate 1.9% in 2022 and 1.4% in 2023. Hence, to expect the country’s unemployment rate to go down to 6% by 2030 is an almost impossible ask.”

Suffering the greatest decline in employment between 2020Q1 and 2022Q1 were:

Africans (accounting for 75% of decline of employment during the 2-year period.
The three youngest age cohorts (accounting for nearly 80% of job losses) – further worsening youth unemployment in the country.

Those without Matric (representing 80% of employment decrease during the two years). This finding is not surprising, given the structural change in the economy, as the less educated and skilled ones are relatively more likely to lose their jobs during the economic lockdown.

Service workers as well as craft and related trades occupation categories – these two categories involve close face-to-face contact with customers, and hence were most likely worst affected by the lockdown restrictions. They represented 22% and 21% of employment decline, respectively.

Yu explains, “When only considering the employees, employment loss was the greatest (accounting for a huge 47% share of total job loss) amongst employees who reported working for a large enterprise with at least 50 employees. This result is not surprising, as it is understandable that the owners of these large enterprises need to cut labour input cost by retrenching some of the employees,“ he noted.
“It is also concerning that 28.4% of job losses happened to employees who reported working in small enterprises with only one to four staff. This result implies some micro-enterprises failed to survive under the difficult circumstances during the lockdowns of the past two years.”

SUPPLIED| Professor Derek Yu is a Full Professor and Chair: Economics in the Department of Economics at UWC. For more information about studying economics at UWC.

LEONIE BOLLEURS| 

WHO do you know who has designed rockets when they were children, and when grown up, is launching real-life rockets into space? “This just never gets old; does not matter how many rockets I have seen launched into space, it still is an amazing event to see that much power confined in such a tiny device,” says Jim Adams, NASA Deputy Chief Technologist (retired).

Adams has more than 35 years of aerospace experience and has been involved in more than 30 spaceflight missions to explore the earth, the sun, and most of our solar system. A group of Physics students and lecturers at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Adams, speaking about the future of space exploration. 

Finding answers in space

Included in Adams’ list of top space exploration missions are the Dragonfly mission, the Mars sample-return mission, and the Davinci+ and Veritas missions. 

With the Dragonfly science mission scheduled to be launched in 2027, NASA scientists are working on flying a robotic quadcopter to the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, to collect data that they will use to obtain information on the formation of moons in the solar system. This will be the fourth mission in NASA’s New Frontiers portfolio, a series of investigator-led planetary science explorations.

By sending and collecting samples from Mars via the Mars sample-return mission, scientists are collecting rock samples and leaving them to be returned to earth later. A rocket will carry tubes filled with Martian soil and rock samples to the orbit around Mars, where it will be picked up by another spacecraft. The Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars in 2021 and began its mission. Although Adams have foreseen risks in terms of landing – as two thirds of missions sent to Mars have failed in their descent into the planet’s thin atmosphere – the rover safely reached the surface. This mission puts NASA in the best position to getting samples back from Mars, in order to establish whether the planet holds any evidence of life. According to the Natural History Museum, Earth and Mars share a history within the solar system. If Mars were habitable, then it could at one point have had similar conditions as Earth in terms of harbouring life. 

Adams also provided some insight into the Davinci+ and Veritas missions. NASA has selected these two new missions to understand how Venus, the nearest planet to Earth, became an inferno-like world, when it may have been the first habitable world in the solar system. The missions, which will shed some light on questions about climate change and global warming, are expected to launch between 2028 and 2030.

Reaching the stars, literally 

Besides the opportunities to conduct research, space exploration missions now also offer humans the chance to ‘reach the stars’. According to Adams, space exploration is entering a new era, opening space to more people than only the global superpowers and trained astronauts. More private space companies delivering cargo in space, space flights for private citizens to visit the moon, and even space tourism services are not only possibilities but are becoming a reality. Adams adds that it is becoming more affordable to make use of these services. 

Soon, operating from Kenia and other places in the world such as the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, World View will lift capsules in a six- to eight-hour ride to the edge of space, allowing humans to observe Earth from 37 km above the surface.

He says that human missions to Mars will also be possible before the end of the next decade, bringing with it job creation, research, and collaboration opportunities. 

The benefit to everyday human living

Investing in space missions also greatly benefited humans. One example is the image sensor technology designed and developed for space, which is now being used in cellphone cameras worldwide. Another example is baby formulas that contain a seaweed-based nutritional enrichment ingredient, which was developed through NASA research to find a suitable nutritious agent for long-duration space travel. Space research is also used in nature research, with a star-mapping algorithm for the Hubble Space Telescope helping researchers to track the rare speckle-skinned whale shark. 

“Investing in science and technology can work towards a better life on earth,” concludes Adams.

He also addressed members of the community at the Naval Hill Planetarium during an open evening event, on the topic: What happened to Mars? NASA’s Artemis Project to the Moon. 

NORTH West Province has renamed the provincial bursary scheme, which is aimed at benefitting thousands of students from poor backgrounds, to the late ANC Youth League (ANCYL) stalwart, Victor Thebe Sifora.

The bursary scheme is aimed at preserving the legacy of Sifora as an activist, scholar and struggle veteran.

It will also provide financial support to students with poor backgrounds, granting them opportunity to further their studies in different institutions of higher learning.

North West Premier, Bushy Maape, said over R4 million has already been set aside for the bursary scheme in the current financial year. Since 2016 the bursary has benefited over 800 students.

In his address during the launch at the Mahikeng campus at the North West University., Maape appealed to business and other social partners to help the Bursary Scheme raise funds to enable government to increase its intake of beneficiaries.

The launch was attended by Local Mayors, Councilorsy, MEC for the Department of Education, Wendy Matsemela and the Sifora family members.

Also present at the launch was a delegation from North West University led by Potchefstroom Campus Deputy Vice Chancellor, Daryl Baila.

“Our plan is to see more learners particularly from rural areas and disadvantaged backgrounds benefiting from this scheme. It is through education that we can change the lives of our people for the better. But education helps us to develop a new set of skills that can assist in addressing a number of challenges confronting our province,” Maape said.

Maape maintained the North West is beaming with men and women of high ethical standards and astuteness whose names must be celebrated in preserving their legacy and the heritage of the province.

“Sifora was a remarkable person and part of preserving his legacy is to make sure that we create socio-economic opportunities for the youth. This will ultimately alleviate challenges of poverty, unemployment, substance abuse and other social ills bedeviling our communities,” said Maape.

“It is my firm believe that the renaming of this scheme will re-ignite interest among the youth to study further but critically emulate Sifora’s principles which were confined within the realm of servitude and selflessness.”

Sifora – who was born in Mopyane Village in the then-Madikwe district in North West in 1914 – was one of the founding members of the ANCYL along with Oliver Thambo, Nelson Mandela, Anton Lembede and Walter Sisulu.

He was also a member of Seoposengwe, an official opposition party in then Bophuthatswana. He had an illustrious career as an academic, principal and teacher.

INSIDE EDUCATION

THE Labour Court has dismissed an application brought against the University of South Africa (Unisa) by five former employees who were NEHAWU shop stewards at the time of the termination of their employment contracts.

The Labour Court found that the applicants failed to establish the court’s jurisdiction.

Unisa terminated the employment contracts of five employees, including shop stewards of Nehawu on Friday 6 May 2022, for serious misconduct in terms of the university employee disciplinary code and university ethical code.

The university attempted to contact the trade union several times prior to terminating the employees’ employment contracts in an attempt to find a solution to the employees’ illegal behaviour.

They were accused of disrupting graduations and illegally discharging pepper spray, among other things.

As a result, on Tuesday 19 April 2022, the university imposed a precautionary suspension on the staff until the completion of disciplinary proceedings.

“Whilst noting and respecting this outcome, Unisa Management wishes to reaffirm its stance that it is not against NEHAWU or any labour union operating within the university. The Management is on record as having protected the rights of labour to organise, protest and agitate for the rights and issues affecting workers,” the university said in a statement.

“NEHAWU in particular, has been peacefully picketing since 3 November 2021 and the university has not even once interfered with the pickets. However, when the industrial action took a violent turn and violated laws and applicable policies, the university Management took steps to protect life and property in line with legal obligations.”

Unisa said its management also wished to reiterate that it has met the salary adjustment demand by NEHAWU on 19 April 2022 as officially approved by the governance structures of the university.

“As far as the Management is concerned, there is no salary increase dispute yet. To this end, the university is returning to the CCMA to clarify and set the record straight. The new round of negotiations has not yet reached a deadlock stage. The non-existent dispute must not be used to perpetuate violence and instability in the university,” said Unisa.

“Unisa is an important public institution in the imagination and lives of the people of Africa. The Management hopes that NEHAWU will reconsider its violent and disruptive stance. Meanwhile, the university has put measures in place to ensure business continuity and the protection of the academic programme. All workers are encouraged to continue with their important work of serving the public.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

WENDY MOTHATA|

GAUENG MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi says that the migration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) from Department of Social Development (DSD) to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) was one of the major achievements of the past financial year.

He was tabling the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) 2022/23 budget during a house sitting at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.

“This is a major achievement that will allow our children to grow in an education environment and cease with the old approach of considering ECD centres as existing to only provide child care,” said Lesufi.

Lesufi believes early ECD plays a vital role in laying a strong foundation for children.

He said learners will be exposed to Mathematics, Physical Science and Life Sciences subjects from an early age, adding that this move will assist in the elimination of learners dropping out of school at an early age.

The department will now be responsible to support, subsidise and regulate the programmes across Gauteng in line with Chapter 5 and 6 of the Children’s Act.

The existing governance structures between GDE and GDSD will continue to operate to manage the transitional period and to ensure that all levels of service are maintained.

“Science and research confirm that the first 6 years of learning are more crucial to children, that if we provide the necessary support to our children, they will grow to become better citizens. From now on, children will no longer come to ECD centres to pray, sing, eat and sleep. They will now be given an opportunity to learn so that they can grow and become better citizens,” Lesufi said.

“The NDP clearly lays out a vision that can only be reached if we are working together; a vision in which we live together in peace and security in a land that we nurture. A vision in which we realise opportunities for all. This is the grand vision that we want to lay a firm foundation for our children as they start their ECD journey to be better citizens.”

Universalisation of Grade R

To date, the Department has offered ECD to over 164 000 learners in schools and community-based sites.

“We will be expanding Grade R to all public primary schools regardless of their socio-economic status. Private Grade R sites will be registered through the introduction of provincial regulations, to ensure that there is an adequate mix of public, private and community-based Grade R sites. We will use the ECD programmes registered with the Department to determine the number of Grade R learners in private ECD centres. This data has not been previously available. We will improve on our EMIS systems to collect data from private ECD centres,” said Lesufi.

Lesifi said that the department will put in place a research process to determine the criteria for the funding of targeted Community Based Sites (CBS) offering Grade R.

“The department will also work with the GDSD and municipalities to identify targeted private Grade R centres registered with GDSD and local government and provide them with curriculum support and training,” Lesufi said.

“To further improve the quality of Grade R teaching, all Grade R practitioners are required to acquire a minimum qualification and skills to teach Grade R. The Department envisages to register practitioners annually for full time programmes. In 2022/23, the Department aims to register 400 Grade R practitioners for a Bachelor of Education Degree and 500 Pre-grade R practitioners for upskill in qualification on ECD NQF Level 4.”

“This is to ensure that we don’t have ECD outside the public education space, but we have ECD that is within the education space and provides the relevant transition from Grade R to Grade 1 immediately within our education environment. We also want to urge all those that still run their ECD centres within the private education sector to continue provide this kind of support. They must continue enrolling our children and the GDE will co-operate with them at an appropriate stage to provide all the relevant support immediately in terms of learning, learning material and the quality of educators that will provide support to these children. This is crucial to ensure that our children get the best education on their first day in our schools.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

HELEN SWINGLER

Swahili will be taught as an elective language course at the University of Cape Town (UCT) from 2023, with the aim of launching it as a major subject in 2028. Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng made the announcement in her opening address at UCT’s Africa Month panel discussion on 26 May, discussing the role of language and music in liberating and integrating Africa.

Professor Phakeng was speaking from the United Kingdom, where she spent time at the University of Bristol (she became the first Bristol Illustrious Visiting Professor in October 2021), the University of Cambridge and the UCT UK Trust. She also met with UCT alumni.

Swahili will be offered through the School of Languages and Literatures in the Faculty of Humanities, in partnership with the Institute for KiSwahili Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. Professor Aldin Mutembei, the Julius Nyerere Chair of KiSwahili Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, was also among the panellists.

Adding to the announcement, Dean of Humanities Professor Shose Kessi said there are also plans to introduce a Swahili studies research programme at postgraduate level.

“However, we are still in the process of finalising our plans and agreement with the Institute of KiSwahili Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam.”

Working language in Africa

The announcement is significant, as Africa Day on 25 May 2022 also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the African Union (AU). Earlier this year, at its heads of state meeting, the AU adopted Swahili as an official working language for the continent.

In her address, Phakeng said, “For centuries, South Africa has welcomed different European languages. It is about time that we do the same for the languages of our continent. Becoming fluent in Swahili is one way to reclaim our identity as Africans.”

This year’s Africa Day celebration programme at UCT was led by the Faculty of Humanities, the South African College of Music, and International Jazz Day South Africa. Phakeng said she hoped that different faculties would host the event each year, presenting multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted aspects of the continent’s heritage.

“Please enjoy Africa Day or Africa Month to its fullest,” said Phakeng. “This is not the only time we celebrate being African. We celebrate it each day. But during this month, we make it even more pronounced. We cast the spotlight on different aspects of strength that come from the African continent that we can contribute to the world.”

UCT NEWS| SUPPLIED