IN support of the World Children’s Day theme: ‘equality and inclusion for every child’, Ashling McCarthy, founder of education non-profit, I Learn To Live- Ngifundela Ukuphila, encourages society to invest in educational opportunities for all children, including youth from rural communities.

I Learn To Live was founded in 2010 to provide education opportunities to school children and youth in rural Zululand. 

“We believe that rural children and youth should be given an opportunity to create a meaningful life, in which they contribute towards their community and society at large,” said McCarthy.

In May 2021, I Learn To Live launched the first Coding and Robotics Club in the rural areas lying between Empangeni and Richards Bay, providing these children with the opportunity to engage in the push towards 4IR and tech-related careers.

“Ten children from the community were selected to participate in the pilot programme, which took place at the Ngqamuzane Support Centre on Saturdays, where children aged nine to 15 were introduced to Arduino, an open-source electronics platform which uses both software (coding) and hardware (sensor kits). This year, 20 children attend the Saturday classes, which now include music sessions, with children learning the drums, keyboards and sight-reading,” explained McCarthy.

With the success of the pilot, I Learn To Live sought to expand the programme into the community. An ICT resource audit done at primary schools in the neighbouring communities revealed a dire lack of infrastructure to run computer-based programmes.

“Maqhwakazi Primary School had a functional but unused computer lab. In collaboration with the principal and parents of grade five to seven pupils, 60 children were selected to attend an after-school Coding and Robotics Club,” continued McCarthy.

I Learn To Live’s coding and robotics programme is aligned with the KZN Department of Educations’ focus on introducing coding and robotics to children in foundation phase in 2023. It also meets Sustainable Development Goal #4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The programme is specifically run as a free afternoon extra-curricular club for interested pupils. I Learn To Live facilitates the sessions, which includes equipment and data.

Arduino online training manuals are tailored for a rural school context, which factors in implementation challenges such as the limited resources and electricity that often runs out. It also takes into consideration that English is not the learners’ first language, so is taught in both English and isiZulu.

“The programme first tackles the basics of computers as most, if not all pupils have no computer experience. Only then are pupils introduced to coding and robotics. Grade five pupils start with block code in the form of Scratch 4 Arduino, which also uses hardware components, while grade six and seven pupils move straight into Arduino, working with sensor kits and coding,” she stated.

I Learn To Live is developing a training programme so that youth studying coding can implement similar coding and robotics clubs in their communities. “In 2023, we will be adding a meal for each child, who attends the programme as most of these children’s last meal was at breakfast time,” confirmed McCarthy.

If you would like more information or would like to support the I Learn To Live coding and robotics programme, contact Phumlani Zungu on 073-337-5226 or Ashling McCarthy on 072-432-0316.

Alternatively, email ash@ilearntolive.co.za or visit www.ilearntolive.co.za

McCarthy encourages citizens to embrace and support the 2022 theme for International Children’s Day, ‘equality and inclusion for every child’ now and into the future.

“The answer to many rural challenges, can be answered by our youth. Our role is to provide them with opportunities, skills, and most importantly, the belief to do so,” she concluded.

RISING SUN

Zimbabwe and Uganda launched satellites into space on 7 November as beneficiaries of the Joint Global Multi-Nation BIRDS Satellite project, BIRDS-5 specifically, which has been a collaborative project involving these countries, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech).

The project started in 2015 and has included the secondment of a group of students, the bulk of them from Africa, to work with Japanese peers at Kyutech. The students are from Morocco, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The BIRDS-5 project provides students from developing nations with limited involvement in space sciences with hands-on experience in satellite development, laying a foundation for similar space technology projects in their home countries that ultimately could lead to sustainable space programmes there.

A developing industry

Students from participating nations enrol in space engineering at the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyutech as masters or doctoral degree students to execute this project.

In an interview with University World News, Chiedza Banda, the president of the Zimbabwean Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS-Zimbabwe) said that, after this development, Zimbabwe has to prioritise space studies.

“As a nation, this milestone shows that an interest in space is not just pie in the sky for young boys and girls. If you are interested in the stars, rockets and satellites, we can then aim for those careers without fear and knowing we will be pioneers in the Zimbabwean space industry,” she said.

“We have Zimbabweans working in other countries or who would have wanted to work in the space industry but saw no future,” said Banda, who is also the Space Generation Advisory Council National Point of Contact for Zimbabwe.

“So, from here, the country has to work on developing the industry. As you saw during the launch, the cube sat was just a small part of the mission. We need rocket engineering training; we need launching pads and so forth – so we need to grow the industry.”

Banda said another aspect Zimbabwe has to look into is making laws that advance its space interests and creating an economic environment that will boost the private space sector.

“The development means that, as students and young professionals interested in the industry, we can now focus our energy on building careers in Zimbabwe instead of the brain drain that was happening. Then, in terms of Zimbabwe, it’s a step in the right direction as we will have an understanding of what we gain from space – that is, the data obtained can be used for weather forecasting, GPS and satellite imaging as well as telecommunications,” she added.

To buttress Banda’s point on the need for space studies, in an interview with University World News last year, Ruvimbo Samanga, a Zimbabwean space lawyer and policy analyst, said Africa is lagging behind when it comes to space activities and the root cause is a lack of space higher education in many countries on the continent.

She said African nations have not embraced space education, despite the sector’s significant developmental power. In fact, only a handful of countries, South Africa included, offer higher education space studies in a broader context, she added.

“The first African astronaut was from South Africa but, since then, there has not been much movement. The African space industry is really just satellite-based, which is the most primary and basic node of the space industry. There are many nodes of the space industry that can be tapped into,” she said.

Mission completed

In an interview with the state-run The Chronicle newspaper, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Permanent Secretary Professor Fanuel Tagwira said that, due to a lack of adequate space studies in Zimbabwe, the launch of the satellite was made possible after the African country sent three students to Japan for their studies.

“It [the launch] is significant and what is more significant for us is that this particular satellite has been developed by our own people undergoing training at Kyushu Institute of Technology,” Tagwira was quoted as saying.

“We sent three Zimbabweans to Japan to go and learn about satellite technology, one of them at PhD level and two at masters level. Part of their study was to produce a satellite for the country,” he added.

University World News

Only 25% of African languages are used in secondary education across the continent, and a mere 5% in higher education, writes Tawana Kupe.

Although the African continent has a rich cultural and linguistic diversity with more than 2000 languages, the question of the language of learning and teaching, across every level of education remains a contentious issue. Only 25% of African languages are used in secondary education across the continent, and a mere 5% in higher education (UNESCO, 2010).

Similar trends and challenges exist in South Africa, with language practices in basic and higher education still largely reflecting the colonial and apartheid legacy. This is despite the fact that South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages.

While language equality and equity in education is promoted in the Constitution, in practice, students’ access to curricula and learning tools beyond the mediums of English and Afrikaans remains limited. This is problematic not only because it produces young people who can hardly read and write in their home languages, which exacerbates the stigmatisation of African languages in education, but also because of its impact on poor achievement and dropout rates.

Prominent role

These rates are higher among black students who struggle with writing academic texts and understanding terminology in their fields of study because their home languages are not used in teaching and learning. 

Public universities play an increasingly prominent role in shaping society at large; they are key drivers of change in response to national priorities. This includes societal transformation, redressing historical legacies, and engaging productively with communities, industry, governmental and non-governmental entities and other partners to navigate the manifold headwinds that characterise this age of disruption and uncertainty.

Universities have a critical role to play in embracing multilingualism, and many are doing just that through vocation-specific language courses. Through teaching students specific words and phrases pertinent to their sector, graduates can interact more effectively with the people accessing their services whose first language is not English. Research shows that these courses are successful not only in developing proficient, adaptable professionals who can operate efficiently across multilingual environments but that they also expose graduates to the different backgrounds of the people they will serve. This results in the production of well-rounded, socially conscious citizens. 

Language policies are in place across South African universities and enable vocation-specific courses to be structured in a variety of ways. Language courses can be part of the compulsory, main curricula, or offered as additional modules at both first and second language level.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) pioneered this multilingual approach in 2004 and isiXhosa and Afrikaans have been successfully integrated into the institution’s medical degree, requiring a pass level for graduation.

At Rhodes University, isiXhosa is compulsory for journalism while it is offered as an elective for their Pharmacy degree. A bilingual Humanities degree, with half of the subjects in English and half in Sesotho sa Leboa is on offer at the University of Limpopo, while at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, students must learn isiZulu to graduate, regardless of what they are studying. 

Collaborations

Other important initiatives include collaborations across universities. One such collaboration is between the University of Pretoria (UP) and UCT, which used a grant from the Department of Higher Education and Training to develop an Open Educational Resource Term Bank (OERTB) that can help students in various of ways.

It provides familiarisation with English terms that are often used at university but are not as common in social settings. The resource term bank also provides equivalent terms in Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, siSwati, isiNdebele, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, SeSotho, Tshivenda and XiTsonga. It offers terms in English and these languages for a variety of disciplines, from accounting and anthropology to family medicine and literature. This national asset is free for anyone to use and allows for feedback and resources to be added. Current contributors include UP, UCT and Stellenbosch University. 

Some have argued that this emphasis on vocation-specific courses is unnecessary and detracts from core learning in higher education. This has resulted in challenges and delays in implementation, which has created frustration among students.

It is clear that the issue of language should be recognised as a social justice issue. If it is not addressed comprehensively and successfully, and if multilingualism is not viewed as a core skill that students should acquire, the risk of reproducing inequalities through the hegemony of English is very real. 

Transformation

Following a series of engagements held this year, the University of Pretoria, together with Universities South Africa (USAf), will be hosting a Vice-Chancellor’s Language Colloquium in December 2022. The colloquium will be hosted under the leadership of the Community of Practice for the Teaching of African Languages (CoPAL) to facilitate a common understanding and implementation strategy for the new Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions. 

The aim of the policy is to contribute to transformation in higher education through enhancing the status and roles of previously marginalised South African languages to foster institutional inclusivity and social cohesion. This is achieved through the development and strengthening of indigenous languages as languages of scholarship, teaching and learning and communication at South African public higher education institutions. The framework provides guidelines for the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of institutional language policies.

USAf is an umbrella body representative of the 26 public universities in South Africa. CoPAL is one of USAf’s two discipline-based communities of practice aimed at addressing the challenges identified with African Languages in South Africa’s higher education sector. The previous colloquiums have been successful in providing a platform for robust intellectual engagement around the policy, as well as presenting an opportunity to work together to actively roll out the framework and reap the benefits of multilingualism across our universities.

– Prof Tawana Kupe, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria.

A 21-year-old grade 11 learner has been arrested on charges of murder, following the death of a
fellow learner.

According to police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo, the deceased learner was fatally stabbed during a fight in Vlakfontein, Johannesburg.

“Preliminary information suggests that a group of boys were fighting outside the school premises on Thursday, November 17, 2022, when a 20-year-old learner was stabbed with a sharp object on the upper body. The learner was taken to the nearest medical care centre, where he was certified dead.”

“Police went searching for the suspects and arrested a fellow learner, who has since been charged with murder. The motive for the fight cannot be confirmed at this stage. An investigation is underway,” Masondo said.

The 21-year-old is expected to appear in the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court on a date yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, the Gauteng Education MEC, Matome Chiloane, visited the family of the deceased
on Saturday.

The Gauteng Education Department has appealed to the community not to disrupt schooling and
teaching “as our Grade 12 learners are still in the process of writing their final exams.”

The department’s psychosocial team has been deployed to visit the school to provide the
necessary support and counselling.

“We wish to convey our sincerest condolences to the learner’s family and the school community at large,” the department said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

In an exclusive interview with Inside Education, Gauteng Education MEC Matome Choloane said the department will be continuing with “progressive programmes” such as the re-organisation of schools. As part of improving the pace of service delivery, the department will launch 14 additional schools of specialisation in the next 12 months.

THE Department of Basic Education said on Wednesday that it has noted with disappointment media reports about plans to introduce unisex toilets in public schools.

The department said speculation in the media was based on a leaked document about consultations that are currently underway on the Guidelines for the Socio-educational Inclusion of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) in Schools.

The @A_C_D_P notes with shock and disapproval that the @DBE_SA has proposed a set of new ‘gender guidelines’ encouraging schools to install unisex toilets. This set of radical rule-changes for schools will allegedly move communities away from the usual ‘gender norms’ in society.

— Kenneth Meshoe (@RevMeshoe) November 4, 2022

“The media reports are based mainly on an initial draft discussion document which has since evolved following consultation before it is published for public comment.”

“This is a matter blown out of proportion, which may have arisen from the consultations that are currently underway on the Guidelines for the Socio-educational Inclusion of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) in Schools,” the department said in a statement.

The department said a narrow focus on “unisex toilets” is unfortunate as it misses the bigger debate on the elimination of gender discrimination in all spheres of society.

The document, although still under continued consultation, asks pertinent questions about inclusion of sexually and gender diverse children pertaining to school admission, curriculum, co-curricular programmes, uniforms, and facilities.

“It is not entirely true that the Department is proposing unisex toilets. Instead, the Department is probing about relevant response mechanisms to ensure the constitutional obligation for socio-educational inclusion of sexual minorities, and avoid the currently overwhelming litigation,” said DBE.

DBE said the bigger part of the document is an exploration of how the education system supports schools to create a safe and caring environment so that all children may experience a good living and learning experience without discrimination or prejudice.

“The petitions conducted by some political parties are premature because a formal public engagement process will take place once the current phase of consultations are concluded,” the Department said, appealing for calm as the matter is still being processed in terms of the normal protocols.

The guidelines are still undergoing district consultations as recommended by the Council of Education Ministers and will be published in 2023.

– Inside Education

IF your matric certificate is lost or damaged, or if you want to combine your results, you can visit your nearest Department of Education District Office to obtain a replacement matric certificate or combine your results.

Here’s everything you need to know: 

Lost or damaged matric certificate;

If your matric certification is lost or damaged, visit your nearest District Office with the following
documents:
– The original Identity Document (ID) and a certified copy,
– An affidavit stating what happened to your certificate (i.e. stating if your certificate is lost or damaged),
– If it is damaged, bring the original certificate (this is not applicable if it is lost).

Pay the prescribed fee of R153 cash at the District Office.

You may request for the statement of results for a fee of R55 cash at the District Office while waiting for the issue of your replacement certificate.

It takes between four to six weeks for a replacement certificate to be issued (for records on the system).

Statement of results can be obtained immediately.

For records not on the system, it will take longer as records need to be retrieved from the archives and loaded onto the system.

Replacement certificate: change of status or combination of results;

If you wrote your matric in more than one examination sitting and you want to combine your results to qualify for a National Certificate, i.e. Senior Certificate (SC) or National Senior Certificate (NSC), you must apply for Replacement Certificate: change of status.

The department of education does not automatically combine your credits, unless you wrote a supplementary examination.

Visit your nearest District Office with the following documents:
– Your results from all examination sittings,
-The original Identity Document (ID) and a certified copy,
– Pay the prescribed fee of R153 cash at the District Office.

You may request for the statement of results for a fee of R55 cash at the District Office while waiting for the issue of your replacement certificate: change of status.

It takes four to six weeks for a replacement certificate: change of status. The combination statement of results is obtainable immediately.

-INSIDE EDUCATION

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said on Tuesday it has recovered R33 million from Northlink College in the Western Cape as part of its National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) investigations. 

“The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has recovered R33 489 884.37 from Northlink College in the Western Cape as part of its National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) investigations. This is the first actual recovery of government money since the signing of Proclamation R88 of 2022 on Friday, 26 August 2022,” SIU Head of Stakeholder Relations and Communications Kaizer Kganyago said. 

Northlink College is a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college that receives NSFAS funding for students who need the financial aid to further their studies. 

Following the announcement of Proclamation R88 of 2022, the college informed the SIU that it received over R33 million from NSFAS that was not allocated to students between 2017 and 2021 and had invested it without authorisation.

The funds are meant to assist struggling students, and not for the college to generate profits. 

The TVET college admitted that the funds should have been returned to the NSFAS, but Northlink College has failed to do so, and instead decided to invest the funds and would return the funds on request from NSFAS. 

“The SIU is currently calculating interest earned from the investment from the commencement date, and such interest would have to be paid into the SIU Trust account,” Kganyago said. 

The SIU is in terms of Proclamation R88 of 2022 authorised by the President to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of NSFAS, and to recover any financial losses suffered by the State through corruption and negligence. 

The SIU investigation focuses on maladministration at NSFAS regarding two functions of the organisation.

The first part will look into the management of NSFAS’s finances. The second part will investigate the allocation of loans, bursaries, and any other funding payable to students in terms of the provisions of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act, 1999, Act No. 56 of 1999.

Furthermore, the SIU is also investigating related unauthorised, irregular, or fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by the NSFAS or the State, including the causes of maladministration. The SIU is also probing any unlawful or improper conduct by employees or officials of the NSFAS or the service providers in question, their employees or any other person or entity.

The proclamation covers allegations of unlawful and improper conduct that took place between 1 April 2016 and 26 August 2022, the date of the publication of the Proclamation, or before 1 April 2016 and after the date of this Proclamation that are relevant to, connected with, incidental to the matters or involve the same persons, entities or contracts investigated.

Kganyago said the SIU is empowered to institute civil action in the High Court or a Special Tribunal in its name, to correct any wrongdoing uncovered during both investigations caused by acts of corruption, fraud, or maladministration. 

– Inside Education 

THE Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training in South Africa, Umalusi has highlighted several concerns regarding protest action in the Northwest and Mpumalanga which has disrupted matric exams.

The protests resulted in some learners either missing the National Senior Certificate examination or writing it later than initially scheduled.

Department of Basic Education (DBE) spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga says that the biggest challenged faced during last week’s examinations was in Mpumalanga, Emalahleni where about 1127 candidates were prevented from accessing their exam centres where they were scheduled to write either Mathematics or Math Literacy Paper 2.

Mhlanga explains that candidates from six centres could not reach the exam centre and even the ones who managed to make it to the exam centre could not write because the exam officials who deliver the question papers were denied entry to the township.

“It is a problem and we have appealed to members of the public to refrain from disrupting schools because it causes unnecessary stress and anxiety among their own children,” said Mhlanga.
Another issue was raised in Gauteng, where 53 candidates could not sit for their Economics paper 1 due to alleged communication from school management, instructing learners not to appear for the exam.
The school management also allegedly misdirected the province by stating that there was a protest in the area.

Mhlanga says that the department is investigating the matter and that the district has initiated a disciplinary proceeding against the principal of Phandimfundo Secondary School.

Further questions were raised about an alleged problematic question in the Mathematics Paper 2 exam that was written last Monday, with complaints and reports coming from different parts of the country stating that the error in the paper led to the problem being unsolvable.

In a statement, Umalusi said the standard procedure for dealing with such issues will be taken during the investigation.

According to Umalusi, if the investigation proves that an error was made, depending on the magnitude of the problem, the marks allocated to the question may be excluded from the question paper’s total marks or that alternative responses may be accepted.

“No child is going to be compromised as a result of that question because there are measures in place that covers for situations like that.”

Mhlanga says that although there have been several disruptions, the department anticipated many more challenges, and it is managing the situation fairly.

Additional reporting by Staff Reporters

PHUTI MOSOMANE

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), AfriForum, Centre for Child Law, and the SA Institute of Race Relations will be making oral submissions on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.

The Bill proposes to amend the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998, so as to align them with developments in the education landscape and to ensure that systems of learning are put in place in a manner that gives effect to the right to basic education enshrined in section 29(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Among others, the Bill seeks to amend certain definitions to provide that attendance of Grade R is compulsory, and to provide for system improvements in terms of admission of learners to public schools.

It also provides for financial and public accountability frameworks for governing bodies and provincial departments.

The Bill further provides for additional regulatory powers of the Minister, and enhancing decision making and oversight powers of Heads of Departments and Members of the Executive Councils.

The hearings are hybrid and can be followed on Parliament platforms.

Other entities expected to make presentations at the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Tuesday include the Federation of Associations of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS), South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), Section 27, and Cause for Justice.

Last week, Equal Education and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC), along with other stakeholders, made oral submissions to Parliament’s Education Portfolio Committee.

The bill clarifies the powers of SGBs and provincial education departments, and says SGBs must be consulted before learners are put in school, but also that the government must ensure transformation, efficient and equitable use of limited state resources.

Generally, the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill makes important changes to key education laws, some are steps in the right direction and some changes are extremely concerning, the Committee heard last week.

Criminalisation is overly harsh and punitive, and it is not in the best interest of children to be left without their caregivers. Equal Education and the Equal Education Law Centre recommended that the government remove all sections of BELA proposing the criminalisation of parents.

Amendments introduce criminal sanctions for caregivers and parents. According to Equal Education, this will not tackle the underlying problems and will mostly impact women, who are often primary caregivers in SA.

According to the bill, certain documents are “required” for admission into school, but there are concerns about learners without any documents who equally have a right to be in school.

In its current form, the bill will allow selling and drinking of alcohol at schools but not during school hours. Although this will be regulated, both Equal Education and other organisations are deeply concerned this will harm learners and that it will not be properly implemented and monitored.

“This must be removed entirely, ” Parliamentary Researcher for Equal Education Jane Borman said.

On the positive side, the amendment provides an opportunity to open up more spaces in schools in overcrowded areas, Borman said they were in support of this.

“We can safeguard mother tongue instruction & ensure the effective & equitable management of resources in the education sector. The amendment provides an opportunity to open up more spaces in schools in overcrowded areas,” Borman added.

BELA bill forces provincial education departments to review school language policies, and consider factors like the needs of the surrounding community. Equal Education believes this is a step toward ensuring language policies are not used as a proxy for racist and exclusionary practices.

It will be interesting to hear what the Institute of Race Relations, and AfriForum say on this matter.

Inside Education will update you on the development in Parliament on Tuesday. Follow us on Twitter @Inside_Edu