WENDY MOTHATA |

THE Department of Basic Education has launched “The National Policy on the Prevention and Management of learner pregnancy in schools” in Platinum Village near Rustenburg in the North West.

The department said that the policy is aimed at reducing the increasing number of learner pregnancies at schools.

The policy on the prevention and management of learner pregnancy in schools was published in 2021.

Last year, the department announced that schools would be required to report to the police where the pregnant learner is under the age of 16.

 “The South African Police Services                               

(SAPS) will be informed to investigate and arrest perpetrators in cases of statutory rape,” said the department.

Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said that unintended pregnancy affects the lives of many young people, often limiting their personal growth.

“Early and unintended pregnancy affects the lives of many young people, often limiting their personal growth, their pursuit of rewarding careers and their ambitions, with an incalculable impact on South Africa’s socio-economic landscape,” said Mhlanga.

 Mhlanga said that care, counselling and support for pregnant learners is critical for retention in schools.

The Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Reginah Mhaule said that it is worrying that the country has recorded 132 000 deliveries amongst girls aged between 10 and 19 for the 2020/2021 financial year.

Mhaule said that the policy will help educate learners about prevention methods.

“Through this policy, we reiterate that to prevent the early and unintended pregnancies, the department will continue to strengthen the provision of comprehensive education, through the curriculum,” said Mhaule.

Director-General of the Department of Basic Education, Hubert Mathanzima Mweli said the school communities need to work together to ensure the implementation of the policy.

“The policy was launched and we hope that it will help in reducing the incidence of learner pregnancy affecting children of school going age. Our school communities need to work together to ensure the implementation of the policy,” said Mweli.

According to the DBE, the policy includes some of the following laws:

– The policy will provide sexual, reproductive health services to enable learners to make informed choices.

– To ensure the return and retention of learners following childbirth into the appropriate grade into the school.– To facilitate access for pregnant learners to ante-natal care through collaboration with the social sector partners and NGOs.– To ensure that schools provide a stigma-free non-discriminatory and non-judgmental environment for pregnant learners and those with babies to support their physical and psychological health and dignity.– Schools will provide a positive and supportive environment where all pregnant learners can access professional advice, information, referrals, treatment, care, counseling and support.– Schools will become health and rights-promoting institutions and act as inclusive centres of learning, care and support, through the integrated School Health Programme.– No educator, school staff member or fellow learner may discriminate against, humiliate or abuse a learner physically, emotionally or psychologically, based on their pregnancy or post-pregnancy status.

–Inside Education

WENDY MOTHATA |

PARENTS at Hoërskool Jan Viljoen have called for equal treatment for all learners and equivalent diversity representatives at the school.

On Sunday, Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi called for unity at the Hoërskool Jan Viljoen in the west of Johannesburg.

This comes after a violent incident that took place among black and white learners at the school last week.

Lesufi condemned a scuffle between the parents of Jan Viljoen that took place during a previously scheduled meeting, stating that parents must embrace a truly non-racial South Africa and set a good example for their children.

In his opening statement, Lesufi told parents of Hoërskool Jan Viljoen that the school is embarking on an important process of change and he encouraged the management team to decide to enable diversity in the school.

Lesufi informed the parents that an investigation will be conducted with the assistance of the South African Human Rights Commission, and further urged parents to protect their school.

The SAHRC has launched an investigation into alleged racially-motivated clashes between black and white learners at the school.

“The SAHRC will investigate everyone. There is an independent body who is going to investigate everyone and if they say act, I will act decisively, “said Lesufi.

 Addressing the parents and school leadership of Hoërskool Jan Viljoen in Randfontein, Lesufi said, “our purpose is to ensure that we deliver quality education and save our children from the trauma of racism.”

The educators of the school indicated to Lesufi that they need support in managing diversity, and the school management team has risen to the task by actively working on appointing an ethnically diverse group of educators.

One of the parents attending the meeting has disagreed that the fight between black and white learners at Jan Viljoen was not racially motivated.

“I’m speaking on the behalf of parents, what happened, happed we can’t undo it and one thing that I’m 100% sure in my mind is that the incident was not racial. It was kids. This is kids attending a school, kids that want to learn, kids that want to become something in life. Yes, there is a lot of errors and I don’t decline it. Parents, please don’t make this thing a racial or political thing because this is not what it is. This is our kids, this is our school and our teachers. We want our kids to be safe it doesn’t matter the colour. We should stand together, let’s leave what is behind,” said the parent.

A parent to a Grade 11 learner, Nozipho Mabena said that the name of the school must be changed. Mabena pleaded for the protection of the learners at the school against incidents of racism.

The MEC further highlighted the issue of sexual harassment at the school which was raised by the learners. He told the parents that the teacher accused of sexually violating learners has been suspended.

“We thought we were coming to the school to deal with allegations of racism but were met with serious allegations of sexual harassment,” said Lesufi.

Lesufi urged parents to teach children to accept and embrace each other.

 “Education starts at home. Let us teach our children from home to accept and embrace each other. If we don’t do that we will never achieve our dream of non-racial South Africa,” he said.

-Inside Education

STAFF REPORTER |

NINE learners in Mpumalanga have lost their lives while several others have been injured in a horrific accident. This is according to the Mpumalanga Department of Education.

The Department said that the accident occurred around Mpuluzi where a taxi carrying some learners lost control capsised at the Mpuluzi bridge.
“The Mpumalanga Department of Education learnt with shock and sadness about a horrible accident which occurred around Mpuluzi wherein a taxi carrying some learners lost control capsised at the Mpuluzi bridge.”

“This horrible accident resulted in the death of nine learners and several others injured.”

Reports indicate that the accident occurred at about 15H30 on Wednesday.

The injured learners have been taken to several hospitals for treatment of the injuries they incurred.

The affected learners are from Tisiteni, Sitanani and Wesley primary schools.

The MEC for Education, Bonakele Majuba said he is saddened by the accident. He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and wished the injured learners a speedy recovery.

“These are sad and shattering news of the loss of young lives who had a promising future. The Department sends sincere condolences to the bereaved families and wishes them all the strength they can muster in this time of need,” said MEC Majuba.

Officials from the Department visited the affected schools to convey condolences. “Officials from the Department visited the affected schools and bereaved families to render the required support, convey condolences and pay respect to the innocent lost lives. May the Souls of the Departed. Rest in Peace!”

-Inside Education

STAFF REPORTER |

NORTH West Premier Bushy Maape announced on Friday that his administration will set aside billions of rands for some of the public infrastructure projects to be implemented by the department of public works, including the completion of new schools during the financial year.

“Education will expend in excess of R1.2 billion on maintenance and construction of new schools.”

Maape delivered his first State-Of-the-Province-Address (SOPA) in the provincial legislature on Friday morning.

Maape was elected as premier in August last year after the resignation of Premier Job Mokgoro.

“Some of the public infrastructure projects to be implemented by the department of public works include the completion of new schools during the financial year 2022/23; these are Kgabalatsane Secondary Schools, Tlakgameng Secondary School, Tlokwe Secondary School, Tigane Secondary School (Phase2), Kagiso Barolong Secondary School, Monnamere Primary School, Kgetleng Secondary School, Mamodibo High School and Rekgonne Bapo Secondary School,” said Maape.

The Department of Education appointed 4 535 Food Handlers to serve meals to learners during lock down and extended school holidays.

The premier added that the department have enlisted the participation and support of the National Department of Higher Education, Department of Science and Technology, together with the relevant SETA’s.

Maape said for the financial year 2022/23, the following youth programmes will be implemented in the province:

• One Hundred and twenty (120) young people will benefit from the interventions focusing on skills development, in areas of road

marking and pothole patching in partnership with DEDECT and the Construction SETA.

• DEDECT in partnership with Services SETA (SSETA) will recruit 100 young people to participate in the Business Advisory Candidacy Programme and a further 200 in the Business Advisory Skills Programme.

• The Department of Social Development will train additional three hundred (300) youths in terms of the National Youth Service.

• R 11million has been set aside through the Agricultural Graduate Programme to train 120 unemployed graduates, who will be placed at various agricultural farms and enterprises across the province.

–Inside Education

STAFF REPORTER |

THE community of Luka Village near Rustenburg in North West woke up to shocking news to shocking news that their school called Ramotse Primary School has burnt down.

According to North West Department of Education the school was burnt on Saturday midnight. The Department’s spokesperson, Elias Malindi said the cause of the fire is still unknown however, they suspect that it was a criminal activity.

The fire destroyed a computer lab, National School Nutrition Programme storage and a block of toilets for the girls and boys.
“The cause of fire is still unknown but the school community suspects that it was criminal activities. The fire destroyed a computer lab with 40 computers, photocopiers, printers, Mathematics lab (1 projector, one screen, manipulative cupboard, interactive board and 18 tables), National School Nutrition Programme storage (food for learners) and Learner Teaching Supply Material (Stationery and textbooks) and a block of toilets for the girls and boys,” said Malindi.

The MEC for Education, Mmaphefo Matsemela condemned in ‘strongest terms the alleged burning of the school. “I take this moment to condemn in its strongest terms the alleged burning of Ramotse Primary school. Such incidents are clearly targeted at delaying the provisioning of education to an African child, “she said.

Matsemela said that those who are responsible should be jailed.

“These incidents are aimed at destroying the right to education enshrined by the South African Constitution. We wish the full might of the law to find those responsible and send them to jail where they belong”, said Matsemela.

The department said the school has opened a case of arson with the local police station.

-Inside Education

STAFF REPORTER |

THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has welcomed the ruling that it was not involved in the erroneous payment of R14 million into the account of Walter Sisulu University (WSU) student Sibongile Mani.

“The scheme said it welcomed the ruling which proved that it was not involved in the erroneous payment made by Intellimali, an independent service provider responsible for the disbursement of funds at WSU,” the statement reads.

This comes after Mani was found guilty and convicted of theft by the East London regional court last week.
Mani’s lawyer argued that she never intentionally tried to deprive the NSFAS of money. However, the State says she knew she was not entitled to the money – but chose to blow R820 000 in 73 days.

The payment was made into Mani’s account on June 1 2017. She allegedly spent R20,000 within two hours of receiving the payment, on items like cigarettes and alcohol.

The money was transferred by Cape Town-based company Intellimali, which was contracted by WSU to disburse funds to its students.
The then accounting student was due to receive her monthly R1 400 food allowance, but because of what was described in court as a “ridiculous and absurd technical glitch”, R14 million was credited to her account.

The NSFAS Spokesperson, Kagiso Mamabolo said that no payment of R14m was transferred into any student or university account intended for Mani by NSFAS.

“The scheme did not suffer any loss of funding due to the erroneous payment. No payment of R14m was transferred into any student or university account intended for Mani by NSFAS,” he said.

Mamabolo said the scheme authorised and paid the normal monthly R1,400 to WSU intended for Mani.

“The CEO of Intellimali confirmed that Intellimali takes full administrative and financial responsibility for the incident,” Mamabolo said.

Mani will return to court on March 8 for pre-sentencing reports.

-Inside Education

STAFF REPORTER|

ELETSA Secondary School Boys Under-16 Soccer team from Letlhabile township near Brits stunned the entire country when they were crowned as the only school to represent South Africa in the Pan African Championships.

The Pan African Championships will be held from 17 to 21 February 2022 in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The North West Department of Education spokesperson Elias Malindi said that Eletsa secondary school won every game the played.

“The Under-16 Soccer team from Eletsa secondary school won every game on their way from Sub – District level, district, provincial and at national level. On the national level they played in the elementary stages then proceeded to the semi – finals. They defeated Grey College from Free State 2 – 1 and in the finals they defeated Clapham Secondary School,” said Malindi.

Malindi said: “As part of the collaboration partnership between the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture(DSAC), the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) have identified South Africa to take part in a pilot inter – school tournament scheduled to take place from 17 to 21 February 2022in the DRC of Congo.”

The South African team will join other five countries namely: Benin, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.

The MEC for Education, Mmaphefo Matsemela congratulated Eletsa Secondary School for their milestone achievement and wished them good luck in the continental championship.

“I am extremely proud of the achievement of Eletsa Secondary; they have showed that in the North West province there is lot of talent. Our schools do not only provide learners with academic exposure but we also expose them to extra – mural activities. During the matric release Eletsa Secondary school is one of the township schools that has done extremely well irrespective of their locality. They have produced two top performing learners in Accounting and Economics across the province. This clearly shows that schools in the townships and rural areas are dominating the space academically and in extra murals”, said Matsemela.

Matsemela further thanked the Superintendent General, Stephinah Semaswe who supported the team in Bloemfontein. Semaswe send her warm wishes to the entire team in their continental adventure.

The Under-16 Soccer team is expected to leave the country on Thursday, 17 February and will be returning on 21 February 2022.

–Inside Education

PLAY AFRICA has developed a free, open source curriculum to promote STEM education and climate change awareness in South African learners from an early stage.

Play Africa is a children’s museum based at Constitution Hill and is active across the country’s nine provinces.

Its new curriculum, called STEM Seeds, was unveiled during a virtual launch on Friday, to coincide with International Day of Women and Girls in Science.  

The curriculum is a support resource for educators and practitioners working in early childhood development (ECD), helping them build science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills and climate change awareness in young learners through play.

Play Africa CEO Gretchen Wilson-Prangley told ITWeb the curriculum is designed to work alongside the South African National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four and CAPS.

The ECD-focused curriculum features ready-to-use techniques and activities that educators can download, as well as a series of freely-available video tools.

It includes sections called “playful educator”, which is about building the educator’s confidence to use playful teaching methodologies to teach STEM.

The “playful classroom” section allows educators to use recycled material to create a STEM centre, where each corner in the classroom is dedicated to science, technology, engineering and maths.

According to Wilson-Prangley, the target market is educators of learners aged three to six, but is still appropriate for up to age 10.

This, she believes, will support early development and school readiness; so that by the time learners enter ‘big school’, they have developed some key STEM skills.

Through its work with ECD centres across the country, Wilson-Prangley said Play Africa found communities were often resource-constrained.

“One of the things that we found is that many ECD practitioners do know that STEM is required for so many different careers; that science, technology, engineering and maths are high-growth areas that will be necessary in a changing world; and there are many ECD educators that know about climate change.

“However, when it comes to figuring out how to take these bigger concepts and apply them in an age-appropriate way through play, a lot of educators revealed they’d sometimes get stuck – they didn’t know where to start.

“When we started to create this resource, we started with educators. We went out into communities and used our Design Thinking process, to find out what they really need and how to provide that to empower them and bring STEM learning and climate change awareness through play into the classroom.

“From these interviews, we heard that educators wanted easy-to-apply, practical tips and resources that they can start applying today.

“One of the things that we heard is that some teachers felt that when it comes to STEM, they think of high-end equipment. We wanted to show educators that you don’t need expensive material to start to teach children about STEM.”

Commenting on the significance of the STEM Seeds launch on International Day of Women and Girls, Wilson-Prangley said it underscores the importance of empowering girls by promoting gender equity in STEM education and careers.

“If we want to equip South Africa’s children for the future, we need to support the creativity and resourcefulness of our country’s early educators.

“This curriculum support for early educators can help children develop new capacities for deeper learning, critical thinking and creative problem-solving through playful learning.”

“Our objective is to help South Africa’s early educators, from all backgrounds and education levels, build the confidence they need to use playful approaches to introduce STEM and climate change awareness in classrooms across the country,” added Rachel Fowkes, programme manager for STEM Seeds at Play Africa.

“Now everyone can help encourage the next generation of South African scientists, coders, engineers, mathematicians and inventors.”

Wilson-Prangley concluded: “Our hope is that this is a locally-relevant resource that is embraced and celebrated by ECD practitioners and becomes a real tool to help them to enliven and enrich their classroom experience. We think that is the transformation we need to see today, to be able to develop the scientists of tomorrow.”

–ITWEB

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”

When former President Nelson Mandela said these words at the Laureus Awards in Monaco in 2000, they inspired Benoni resident Greg Smith to use sport to make a change in his community.

“Listening to that speech inspired me to use sport to bring out the best in youngsters, especially in a way where they can experience something new and grow from that experience,” he said. team, training on Friday afternoons.

The objective was to not only have them play soccer but to come together and learn life skills, such as commitment, confidence, desire to improve and just experience in the enjoyment in what was being achieved.”

After establishing this team, Smith said they made history when they held CBC Parklands to a draw. The winner at the end of the match, he added, was the achievements of what they had set out to do.

Smith has won four u-9 soccer trophies on two continents. He said the achievements were meaningful but the goal was to nurture the youngsters to grow into respectful adults.

Smith has admitted that their goal as educators is to bring the best out of their students. But he wonders what sport defines the community of Benoni.

“What is our preferred sport? Communities in South Africa are defined by a sporting code, what are we? Hockey, soccer, rugby, tennis, chess, etc.?and a stamp in their ity.”

Smith has outlined six outcomes he believes could assist in high-quality school sport:

• Commitment: ensure all learners attend practices on time and are ready. To make sure they commit themselves to the team and understand their responsibility and assist in encouraging fellow learners to join in the sports programme. And making sure they are wearing the correct practice and playing gear.

• Understanding: strive to make sure learners have an understanding of the different styles of thinking needed for the particular sport they are playing, as each sport requires the use of principles, composition and game strategy.

• Confidence: build our learners’ confidence for them to demonstrate what they can do as well as create an environment where they will have the confidence to try a new sport without feeling insecure about their abilities. Teach them that it is ok to ask for help when developing their new skills and being able to talk about what they have just learnt.

• Thinking and decision making: create an environment where learners can work and train without constant coaching and start thinking for themselves. Allow them to ask questions so they can make progress, come up with a range of ideas and strategies to help them improve. Teach them to vary and adapt to what they do, taking into account others’ strengths and weaknesses, and reacting to situations intelligently when performing.

• Desire to improve: ensure learners show determination to achieve the best possible results, get them to compare and evaluate their performance to stimulate the improvement.

• Enjoyment: ensure learners stay keen to take part in what is going on, get learners to talk about what they are doing with enthusiasm, make time to take part in sport and maintain a positive attitude when taking part in school sport.

–Benoni Times

WENDY MOTHATA |

THE Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West will write to the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) of Community Safety and Transport Management, Sello Lehari, requesting that he do an urgent unannounced provincial audit of scholar transport contracts.

The DA said the audit should verify the pick-up and drop-off times of children daily.

“The audit must include the actual number of scholar transporters operating in the North West province, a thorough condition assessment of each vehicle, and verify the number of passengers pertrip. The audit should also verify the pick-up and drop-off times of children daily.”

According to the DA, there are growing concerns about the buses’ roadworthiness and safety issues.

Growing concerns about the buses’roadworthiness, safety and reliability surfaced following an oversight by members of the North West Provincial Legislature regarding the 2022 school readiness and state of scholar transport around the province,” said the DA.

“Allegedly some of these transporters overload the busses, forcing children to stand throughout the trip. Some buses frequently break down, ending up with children arriving late or not making it to school at all. Parents are often forced to pay up to R50 per trip to get their children to school safely.”

Lehari previously indicated that the Department had hired Monitors to check the trips.

However, the party said Based on their observations, the Monitors do not exist. “If they do, they are bribed or are sleeping on the job.”

The DA said that the condition of the buses poses a threat to the lives of the children, inhibits learners access to education and degrades learners’ human dignity

“Following the audit and its findings, MEC Lehari must revoke the contracts of all the transporters who do not comply. The condition of these buses poses a severe threat to the lives of the children, inhibits learners access to education and degrades their human dignity,” the party said.

The party added that if the North West Scholar Transport department fails to do the provincial audit it will report the matter to the Human Rights Commission.

“Failure to urgently do this provincial audit will leave the DA no choice but to report the matter to the Human Rights Commission to do the audit. The safety of our children must be a high priority, and we must take action to restore the dignity of our children. Anything that hampers effective teaching and learning from taking place, the DA will fight tooth and nail.”

–Inside Education