South Africa’s top sporting schools are preparing their squads for the 2022 Absa Wildeklawer Schools Sports Tournament, taking place in Kimberley, Northern Cape, between April 24 and May 2, 2022.

Primary and high school pupils will be competing in a festival of rugby, netball, and football, with football being the new edition to this year’s tournament.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on sports, players, coaches, parents and sports fans were deprived of school sports for almost two years,” said Stonie Steenkamp, managing executive: regional coverage central South Africa (TBC).

Steenkamp stated that with the national state of disaster now lifted, they are excited to bring back the Absa Wildeklawer Schools Sports Tournament.

“Through this tournament, we continue to support the development of sports in our country and remain committed to providing a platform for young sportsmen and women to showcase their talents,” Steenkamp continued.

Adding football to the tournament has increased the number of youngsters competing in the various sporting codes to 4239.

This year, Absa has also introduced several innovations that have enhanced the experience for all involved.

“As part of the 2022 tournament, we will be introducing the Absa MegaU Luxury Bus: with free Wi-Fi, VR rugby games and PlayStations. These will all be available for players and fans to entertain themselves. In addition to the bus, we have the Absa Kuierkamer, an area for invited guests to sit, relax and watch games. We also have some half-time fun activations where youngsters can win cool prizes,” Steenkamp confirmed.

Through the tournament, Absa also aims to empower local entrepreneurs and small businesses in Kimberley through collaboration and making sure that they form part of the festival.

This forms part of Absa’s #SmallBusinessFriday movement, which is aimed at helping small businesses grow, employ more, reduce unemployment and nurture the country’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Absa’s commitment to uplift communities, encourage community participation initiatives and develop sports in the country is reflected in their continued efforts in supporting tournaments and projects such as the Absa Wildeklawer Sports Tournament, Absa Run Your City, Absa Cape Epic and their sponsorship for the Qhubeka Charity where they distribute bicycles to change lives. 

“We are extremely grateful to Absa for their commitment to sports development and choosing to partner with us in bringing this tournament to life again. Absa Wildeklawer has produced 20 Springbok rugby players since 2009 and we are confident that with a partner like Absa we will produce more professional sportsmen and women. We look forward to many years of success and taking the tournament to the next level,” said Cassie Carstens, operations manager for the tournament. For more information on the Absa Wildeklawer, visit https://wildeklawer.com/absa-wildeklawer-sport-2022/

T4 Education has partnered with HP and Intel to reward African Teachers in the inaugural Africa Education Medal.

The medal seeks to recognise the tireless work of those who are transforming education across the continent – to celebrate the stories of those who have lit the spark of change so others will be inspired to take up the torch.

“Quality education will help African countries grow and prosper. And it will help Africa produce the public leaders of tomorrow who will go on to grapple with the continent’s greatest challenges from inequality, to climate change, food insecurity and disease. The Africa Education Medal recognises those who are working every day to make that vision a reality,” said Vikas Pota, Founder and CEO of T4 Education.

ohn Kimotho, Senior Deputy Director at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, has joined the Judging Academy.

“In Kenya, and all across Africa, we need to see everyone from both the public and private sectors working together to ensure we are able to provide a quality education to every child. I urge inspirational leaders from Kenya and all over our continent to come forward and apply for the Africa Education Medal so others can learn from their shining examples,” Kimotho noted.

The Medal is open to individuals working to improve pre-kindergarten, K-12, vocational and university education as educators and school administrators, civil society leaders, public servants and government officials, political leaders as well as Technologists and innovators.

“HP has been committed to enabling better learning outcomes for 100 million people between 2015-2025. Achieving this bold goal wouldn’t be possible without empowered education leaders and trailblazers who are at the forefront of the rapidly changing education environment,” said Brad Pulford, Managing Director at HP Africa.

CAPITAL FM

THE Gauteng MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi opened eight newly built classrooms at the Randburg Clinic School.

The new classrooms were unveiled on April 2, simultaneously with the commemoration of World Autism Awareness Day.

“We gave money and said go and expand. We gave money like any other school that we have given money to. Within the shortest possible period, within budget, they added eight new classrooms in this particular school,” Lesufi told parents and other stakeholders at the school.

He said the completion of the project within a short period signifies leadership.

“They didn’t go and fight for tenders, they didn’t go and fight for who is my friend who can come and build here. They didn’t fight for small things, they produced classrooms.”

He assured the parents of the autistic learners who are studying at the school that although it may not be a battle, they should know that they were not alone.

“We know each and every child is different, we know each and every child is not the same. Therefore, we might struggle with our curriculum but the quality is the same and everyone must be touched with the manner and everything that we are doing in our school.”

Lesufi said they were not opening the school to ‘babysit’ or for the children to be guided just to survive – children must learn.

“We want to impart knowledge so that they can be part of the skills revolution of our country. These children under my leadership will not be confined to being switchboard operators. We will produce good people who will come out of this particular sector.”

The purpose of the commemoration was to raise awareness about autism and emphasise the need to accept individuals with autism as an integral part of society and improve their quality of life as April is Autism Awareness Month.

SOME parents and teachers in the South-South have justified parents’ assistance to children in doing their take-home assignments, saying it is not a transfer of responsibilities from teachers to parents.

The parents made the justification in a recent survey carried out by the News Agency of Nigeria in the region.

They observed the practice would help parents assess the teachers’ performance, as much as help boost the bond between parents and children, whilst keeping a keen eye on the children’s academic performance.

A Calabar-based teacher, Margaret Ada, said that parents assisting their children and wards do take-home assignments helped to create a bond between the pupils and their parents.

197.7K

“Teachers are not transferring their responsibilities to the parents by giving them take-home assignments as some people think.

”The practice ensures that parents get really involved in their children’s education,” Ada stated, adding that some schools had realised that some parents had no knowledge of the activities of their children in school.

She continued, “Education is a collaborative effort between teachers, parents and children. Parents just have to be involved and that is why assignments are given,” she said, but, however, noted that some parents ”felt the assignments were sometimes far above the understanding of the child”.

According to her, in such situations, parents could call the attention of the teachers, which would help boost the bond among the parties.

A parent, David Akpan, said that take-home assignments, no matter how difficult, were part of the teaching techniques to help pupils understand better.

“It is necessary for the parents to assist the children in their take-home assignments. It is only a lazy and irresponsible parent that sees it as a burden,” he noted.

In Yenagoa, a parent and teacher, Jonathan Epegu, said, ideally, such assignments were designed to ensure that children recalled what they were taught in school, and to make them execute the assignments on their own.

“Parents are supposed to supervise their children and not do the assignments. The education of children should involve parents as well as teachers,” Epegu said.

She, however, said that at times, students were given take-home assignments beyond their range of knowledge.

“I agree it happens. My children bring such assignments that are beyond their scheme of work,” she said.

According to Maduabuchi Eziukwu, some teachers usually overwhelmed children with assignments on a daily basis and thus overburdened parents who were increasingly finding it more difficult to eke out a living.

“I only assist when children have difficulties because when you do the assignments, the children do not learn anything.

Eziukwu said that parenting required a lot of commitment and advised that parents should create time and have an interest in the educational development of their children.

Some teachers in Benin told the NAN that take-home assignments were meant for students and pupils to master the topics taught in class.

Blessing Emmanuel, a teacher at a private school in the Edo state capital, opined that no teacher would give students assignments on topics not treated in class.

“I understand the fact that some parents see the assignment given to their wards as bulky whereas it is not, she said.

Treasure Emokpahe, a teacher, noted that assignments were given to students to ensure proper comprehension of the topic, disagreeing with the notion that homework was a ploy to shift responsibility away from the teachers.

In Asaba, the proprietor of African Elite International School, Ikenna Okafor, said that the academic growth of children fell on the shoulders of both teachers and parents.

Okafor said giving children assignments to do at home did not amount to transferring responsibilities to parents.

“It helps the child to play less and study at home. It also helps parents to find out if the teachers are teaching their children well.

“It helps parents find out whether their children are serious with their studies and makes the children open up to their parents about their teachers’ bad behaviours.

“When both teachers and parents join hands together to help the child, you will find out that the child is always the best,” he said.

PUNCH NEWSPAPER

AT LEAST 57 school learners have been confirmed dead while five learners are still missing following deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the Department of Basic Education.

“It has been reported that 57 learners have been confirmed to be deceased while 5 are still missing,” the department said.

The department added that one educator and one food handler have also been reported to have passed away.

DBE said that rescue and recovery processes were still ongoing.

Basic Education Minister of Basic Angie Motshekga is expected to visit KwaZulu-Natal Province on Tuesday to assess the situation.

Taking to Twitter, Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga tweeted: “The impact of the KZN floods on schools is sad and a difficult situation still.”

All provincial schools affected by the floods were temporarily closed on Wednesday last week.

“The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal wishes to inform school communities and all education

stakeholders that it has temporarily closed all schools that have been affected by massive flooding of heavy downpours and inflows of water that has been taking place in the last few days in KwaZulu Natal,” the statement said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to assist people who have lost their family members during the floods.

Ramaphosa visited the flood-stricken parts of KwaZulu-Natal last Wednesday.

“This is a tragic toll of the force of nature and this situation calls for an effective

response by government in partnership with communities,” said Ramaphosa.

“This situation calls on us to come together as a nation and offer assistance to those who desperately need our care and support. What is painful is that a lot of people have died. Their homes have been destroyed, streets, towns and this church has been destroyed. You are not alone. We will do everything in our power to see how we can help. Even though your

hearts are still in pain, we are here for you.”

Last week, the Provincial Education Department advised schools and parents to use their discretion on whether to send children to school or allow them to stay at home.

Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi, “Safety alert by the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal, attention to all school principals and School Governing Bodies due to inclement weather conditions the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal advises teachers, parents, caregivers to use their discretion whether or not to send their children to schools. The department will monitor the weather patterns and give further advise in this regard.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

YULIA Kuryliuk, a teacher in a village near Lviv, woke on 24 February to find her country at war and gathered her sixth-grade class on Zoom. Two children tearfully asked when the fighting would end.

She didn’t have an answer, but she led her students through breathing exercises to manage anxiety and encouraged them to hug a relative, pet, or stuffed animal for comfort.

With Ukraine’s education system upended by the war, teachers are helping provide stability for their students, along with other forms of emergency support such as evacuation and humanitarian aid.

While the ministry of education and science declared a two-week break after Russia’s full-scale invasion began, lessons have now resumed where possible, though they are frequently interrupted by the wail of air raid sirens.

According to Ukraine’s education minister, Serhiy Shkarlet, as of 7 April, about 12,000 schools were holding classes online and 3.5 million students had returned to some form of learning.

Experts agree that education can play a positive role for children affected by war and “alleviate the psychological impact of armed conflict by offering routine and stability”, according to the intergovernmental Safe Schools Declaration.

A few times a week, Kuryliuk meets her students in person at the school library, where they play board games. “It’s a safe place to be with each other and to communicate,” she said, particularly for kids who are cooped up inside with their parents.

She has also been reading to her sixth-graders over Zoom in the evenings. Some log in from Poland, Italy and Greece, where they’ve sought refuge, to connect with familiar faces from back home.

As Russian forces advanced, Anastasiia Luzhetska fled the small community near Kyiv where she was teaching art to stay with her family in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. She’s since marshaled a team of volunteers to organize games, arts and crafts, parties and other distractions for the many internally displaced children arriving in the area, creating spaces “where kids can feel like kids”. When it’s time to go, she said, the children and their parents “don’t want me or my volunteers to leave”.

A video posted on Facebook shows Luzhetska on a recent visit to a shelter for internally displaced people in Ternopil, where she scoots across the room on her knees, flapping her arms like wings. A group of children seated on the floor lean forward, shouting guesses at what kind of bird she is mimicking. “Swan!” a boy cries, and she walks over to give him a high five.

Still, the war is never far away. “One boy, Yegor, drew a house and after that, he said, ‘Oh, I think I don’t have a house any more, because they bombed it,’” Luzhetska said. “It’s hard to hear.”

Older students also feel a deep sense of uncertainty. Before 24 February, Vova, a 17-year-old from Borodyanka, a community of 13,000 north-west of Kyiv, was planning his high school graduation party and dreamed of studying journalism at university. Now, with his home and school in ruins after over a month of Russian occupation, he has no idea what his future holds.

With their school destroyed, Tymoshenko teaches Vova and another student in a basement in the village where they are sheltering. Photograph: Courtesy Teach for Ukraine

Viktoria Tymoshenko and students before 24 February. Photograph: Courtesy Teach for Ukraine

When the attacks began, Vova, who was raised by his grandmother, sheltered with her in their basement, where they remained for a week with no electricity.

He heard constant explosions as Russian soldiers fired rockets and columns of military vehicles rolled through his neighborhood, shooting at houses. Amid the chaos, he texted with his biology teacher, Viktoria Tymoshenko, who was determined to help him evacuate and arranged a way out.

Tymoshenko “rescued me from this hell”, Vova said, speaking through an interpreter. They fled under shelling to a nearby village before moving further west, but they weren’t able to get his elderly grandmother out of the Kyiv region. In March, she was killed by a Russian missile that hit the house where she was staying.

Tymoshenko is now living in a village with Vova and another student she helped evacuate. Though it’s safer there, she is haunted by memories of their escape and worries about those who stayed behind. She messages students who have internet access to check in, but there are some she cannot reach, along with several of her colleagues.

Ukrainian forces liberated Borodyanka on 1 April, but authorities fear there may be hundreds of residents buried under bombed-out apartment buildings. Russian occupiers destroyed part of their school and then set up a base there, Tymoshenko said, ransacking the classrooms and covering the walls and chalkboards with graffiti: “Russia, our beloved country!!!”

Graffiti in a Borodyanka classroom after Russian occupation. Photograph: Courtesy Teach for Ukraine

Tymoshenko and her students go on walks in the village to try to take their minds off the war, but there is “a tension you always feel and it does not disappear”, she said through an interpreter. Vova is grateful to his teachers for providing support, and despite everything he’s been through, he is eager to return to class.

Tymoshenko, Luzhetska and Kuryliuk are fellows with Teach for Ukraine, an organization that recruits and trains Ukrainians to teach in underserved schools. It is part of the Teach for All network, which includes Teach for America and Teach First in the United Kingdom. Since Russia’s invasion began, Teach for Ukraine has held workshops with psychologists to equip its teachers with techniques to support students during the war. Most are first-time educators and have been in constant contact, supporting and inspiring one another. “We are more than just colleagues, we are a family,” said Kuryliuk. “They all remind me every minute that I just don’t have the right to give up.”

“Even under the shelling they kept thinking about school,” Anastasiia Holovatiuk, another Teach for Ukraine fellow who was serving in nearby Makariv, said through an interpreter. The town was also recently liberated from Russian occupation. Her apartment was destroyed by Russian fire, but her students, who have continued to prepare for their university entrance exams, motivate her to keep going: “Watching these kids, you understand that it is necessary to continue and to move on.”

Educators stepped up to hold the community together, Holovatiuk said, cooking food for Ukrainian soldiers, helping locate basic necessities for residents and checking in with their students. Still, she said, while Ukraine has become a global symbol of resilience, its citizens have paid a high price. When people think about the war, she wants them to know “20 students from the 11th grade from Makariv lost everything they had”.

Holovatiuk’s student Masha, 17, is one of them. After fleeing the fighting in Makariv, Masha, her parents and her brother stayed with an acquaintance near Lviv, but the small apartment was soon crammed with multiple internally displaced families and three cats. To free up space, Masha’s parents decided she would travel alone to Poland, where they had found a family willing to take her in.

Masha packed a backpack and boarded a train so crowded people were sleeping on the floor; she tried to rest in the space between wagons. “It was like in the movies about the Holodomor,” she said through an interpreter, referring to the Stalin-engineered famine that killed four million Ukrainians in the 1930s. She wasn’t afraid to go to Poland, but “you just feel as though everything around you is being destroyed”, she said. “You go away from your parents, and when other people are with their families, it is not pleasant. You sit as if you were a puppy.”

Now Masha attends classes with other Ukrainian teenagers, with a translator available to help. She’s learning basic Polish and for the moment, there are no grades and no homework. Her new school is “a nice picture”, with a swimming pool, large gym, “cool classrooms” and kind teachers, but these amenities can’t eliminate the persistent sense of uncertainty.

Masha worries about her dad, who wants to return to Makariv to fix the electricity lines, and her insulin-dependent grandmother, whom she hasn’t been able to reach for weeks. She feels guilty that she is safe in Poland, able to go outside and spend time with new friends while her family is sitting in a basement.

Holovatiuk, who arrived in Makariv in August, was just getting to know her students when she had to flee and is furious that the war disrupted her plans to teach there for two years. She is currently staying in western Ukraine with her partner’s family but plans to return to Makariv when it’s safe and believes the school will play a central role as the community rebuilds.

“Each of us has nothing left but hope,” she said. “You keep thinking that you will be back, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, or in a week, but I will be back.”

With translation by Alina Opriatova and Anna Doroshenko

THE GUARDIAN

THE Department of Basic Education (DBE) has confirmed that 18 learners and one teacher died in the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, described by many as one of SA’s worst disasters.

“By Wednesday afternoon 18 learners and one educator had been reported to have perished in the disaster that occurred,” the department said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Basic Education Angie Motshekga expressed her condolences and sympathy to all the families who had lost their loved ones in the heavy rains in KwaZulu-Natal.

More than 300 people have lost their  lives during the floods, according to authorities.

“We are saddened that so many lives have been lost and we would like to express our deepest condolences to all affected families and relatives. It is such a tragic loss and our prayers go out to those who have lost their family members and those who lost their belongings,” said Motshekga.

The floods have forced the Department of Education in the province to close schools until next week as more than 120 have been reported to be damaged.

“This is a catastrophe and the damage is unprecedented. What is even more worrying is that more rain is expected in the same areas that are already affected,” Motshekga said

The province has now been declared a provincial disaster.

The Department of Basic Education has also sent a team of senior managers to support the provincial

education department in conducting an assessment of the damage caused.

The minister will also visit the province soon.

KZN Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said that the province has now more than 500 schools that are damaged and require urgent attention.

On Wednesday, the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal announced that all the schools in KZN affected by floods have closed.

This move comes after the province has been experiencing floods since Sunday night.

“The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal wishes to inform school communities and all education stakeholders that it has temporarily closed all schools that have been affected by massive flooding of heavy downpours and inflows of water that has been taking place in the last few days in KwaZulu- Natal,” the statement said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

HIGHER  education provider STADIO, has honoured Dr. Mathew Phosa with their first-ever Fellow of STADIO award, during a graduation ceremony in Krugersdorp on Tuesday.

Phosa was honoured with the highest award that the JSE-listed investment company can offer, in acknowledgment of his diligent commitment to South Africa’s higher education sector.

Phosa is a prolific author and many of his poems, including the Afrikaans anthologies Deur die oog van ‘n naald, are prescribed in South Africa’s school curriculum, as part of the matric syllabus.  

The veteran ANC politician has held a 12-year tenure as Chairperson of the UNISA Council, where he successfully oversaw the merging of Unisa, Technikon SA, and VUDEC, to create the largest higher education institution in the Southern hemisphere.

“STADIO is delighted to be able to acknowledge Dr. Phosa as our first-ever Fellow of STADIO.  We strongly feel his continued contributions to ethical leadership and championing the values of constitutional democracy, good governance, and social justice in South Africa contribute to the achievement of STADIO’s vision, mission, values, and commitments. This is our way to not only appreciate his phenomenal accomplishments but also a chance for us to celebrate strong role models with our students,” says Divya Singh, Chief Academic Officer at STADIO. 

Aside from his work in education, Phosa is widely acknowledged as a trailblazer in South Africa’s political and business sphere. 

After opening the first black law practice in Nelspruit in 1981, he went on to play a central role in negotiating a peaceful transition to a fully democratic South Africa in 1994.

He was appointed the first Premier of Mpumalanga during the same year and later was elected Treasurer-General of the ANC from 2007 to 2012. 

Phosa sits on several listed company boards and well as on the boards of several unlisted entities.

He is also the Chairperson of Special Olympics South Africa, an NPO founded to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. 

Addressing the graduation congregation, Phosa said his best piece of advice to his fellow graduates is to listen. 

“We must learn to talk to each other in our country, in a barefoot, calm, loving way that will restore trust between people and build bridges where it has been destroyed by ideological nonsense,” he said.

STAFF REPORTER

SEVEN pupils and a teacher are reported to have drowned during the floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

Provincial education department spokesperson Sihle Mlotshwa told the Sowetan that a teacher died in the Ugu district on the south coast, while five pupils were reported to have drowned in Pinetown.

Two pupils died in the Umzinyathi district.

Mlotshwa was quoted as saying that the department was still being updated on staff and pupils who were affected by the floods and urged parents to use their discretion during the inclement weather

The education department in the province has also moved to close all schools in the province.

The temporary closure of these schools will be until 19 April 2022.

The department said, “The strong flooding has caused a huge disruption and it continues to impact negatively on teaching and learning at schools, while it remains a threat to the lives of pupils as well as teachers.”

They added, “The terrain and level of water has made it extremely difficult for teachers and pupils to reach the schools”.

It was reported that more than 140 schools were affected by flooding.

The department explained that in some areas it is extremely dangerous to access schools as pupils and teachers are forced to cross high levels of water.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala said that weather has affected the delivery of education as learners had to stay at home due to damage sustained by schools.

“In particular, 40 learners and 12 educators from Tholulwazi High in Molweni were trapped at school because the bridge they use to cross the river collapsed and the road was washed away by floods. The Grade 12 learners and educators teaching Grade 12 had remained behind for extra tuition on this day,” said Zikalala.

KWAZULU-NATAL Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said on Wednesday that the death toll from the floods in KZN has now risen to 253.

Heavy downpours have been battering KwaZulu-Natal province since the weekend, triggering flash floods that swept away bridges, homes, vehicles, and roads and causing significant infrastructural damage. 

Communities adjacent to rivers are being warned to relocate immediately.

President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the province on Wednesday and told the people of KwaZulu-Natal that government will intervene to help families affected by the floods.

Ramaphosa is expected to visit at least five more communities in eThekwini to assess the damage and to offer support.

Speaking to the residents of Clermont in eThekweni Municipality, where he visited a family that has lost four children after a wall fell on their home during the floods, the President said government will provide aid and relief to those who have been affected.

“I wanted to visit this area to see what has occurred… and I can see that [following the floods] this area is in a very bad state. A great tragedy has befallen you, one that we have not seen in a long time. The most painful effect of these floods is that many lives have been lost, people’s homes have been destroyed, streets, bridges and churches have been destroyed.

“We are here to see this for ourselves and to assess how government can intervene and where government can step in to help,” he said.

Ramaphosa passed his condolences to the bereaved families and committed government’s support to them.

“You are not alone on this journey. We will walk with you. We will help you in all the ways that we can. We know that your hearts are broken because of what has happened but we are here to say that we are with you,” he said.

Premier Sihle Zikalala convened a special executive meeting to receive a report on the disaster.

He called for the declaration of a state of disaster.

Meanwhile, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda warned motorists and community members not to use roads affected by heavy flooding.

During a media briefing on April Tuesday, he also urged residents to evacuate their homes if the structure was unstable.

Kaunda defended the municipality’s maintenance of its infrastructure.

He said many of the emergency incidents were a result of landslides and flooding that was not linked to the city’s drainage systems.

He was unable to quantify the cost, thus far, of damage to infrastructure in the municipality.

Several water supply lines had also been affected. Land fields, water treatment plants, bulk pipes have also been severely damaged.

The flood also resulted in damage to roads and had knocked out electricity supply to several parts of the city.

“The infrastructure team is out rectifying the damage and work is under way to reconnect services,” he said.

STAFF REPORTER|