THE 2023 FNB Varsity Cup rugby tournament gets underway on Monday, 20 February 2023 and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) senior rugby team is ready for the challenge. For the second season, FNB UJ goes into the tournament led by two co-captains, Kelvin Kanenungo and Buhlebenkosi Qaba, who will share the responsibility of guiding the team in their quest for lifting the trophy.

Under the leadership of Head Coach, Jonathan Mukwena, FNB UJ will be approaching the 2023 campaign differently with a squad made up of new and returning players. In 2022, the Orange Army gave a good account of themselves on the pitch, narrowly losing few games with marginal points. In their 2022 games, FNB UJ played with more vigor in the first halves of the matches and took the foot off the pedal in the second halves. They finished in 6th place on the log.

However, this year, FNB UJ has prepared well for the season. Their early return to the training grounds in January will be tested during their opening match against North West University (NWU Pukke) on Monday, 20 January 2023 at the Fanie Du Toit Sports Ground at NWU at 19:00.

Previously, FNB UJ finished in critical positions on the log in the 2020 and 2021 FNB Varsity Cup tournaments, risking relegation. The arrival of Coach Mokwena proved to have made a difference, moving FNB UJ out of the relegation zone in 2022. Out of the nine (9) matches played in the 2022 season, FNB UJ won four, lost four and drew one.

Ahead of their opening encounter, Coach Mukwena says, “I believe the many weeks we have spent in preparation for this tournament have been on point. We had a few disappointments with a few players not being able to come through but that is part of coaching, and it allows the next players to prove themselves. Generally, we are happy with where we are and hopefully, with time, we will see a few new stars emerge out of UJ rugby.”

After the UJ-NWU match, UJ will face Wits University in a highly anticipated Johannesburg derby on Monday, 27 February 2023 at the Wits Stadium. The Orange Army will play their first home game on Monday, 06 March 2023 against FNB UCT Ikeys at the UJ Stadium in Westdene.

A number of new faces feature in both the FNB UJ squad line-up and management. Co-captains says, “Well, the goal is pretty straight forward, it’s winning the competition. If we do not win it, we will finish in the top 4 positions. As a group, this year we are adding more intensity and aggression to our game.”

Co-captain Qaba added, “We have to make the right decisions at the right times and that comes from confidence and the training sessions we had. This will put us where we want to be in terms of winning games in the tournament.”

Unlike the previous campaign, this year FNB UJ will have a tougher programme as they will have less home games. Their pre-season preparations will come handy for their away games, having played friendly matches against the Griffons and UP-Tuks a few weeks ago.

SUPPLIED: UJ

IN a provocative start to the University of Pretoria’s (UP) 2023 Senate Conference, speakers challenged the academic community to engage in uncomfortable conversations and to steer away from “tinkering at the edges of change”.

Setting the tone for forthright discussions on curriculum transformation – the theme of this year’s Senate Conference at the Future Africa campus – Professor Siona O’Connell of the School of Arts pointed to UP’s own problematic history and urged Senate members to “do our past justice”.

While race-based forced removals were under way across Pretoria in the 1950s and 1960s, including in Garsfontein, Marabastad, Eersterust and Wonderboom, the University had remained aloof.

“From the Humanities Building and all across the beautiful campuses, staff and students would have overlooked Pretoria’s shame,” Prof O’Connell said in a keynote address on Thursday, 16 February, the first day of the two-day Senate Conference, titled: “Turning the Tide: Reimagining Curriculum Transformation at UP”.

Gaps in UP’s own history

So removed had the University been from the apartheid-induced turmoil around it, she said, such as the mass arrests and detentions, consumer boycotts, factory strikes, work and school stay-aways that lasted into the 1980s, that critical moments in its own history went unrecorded.

One such moment was Chief Albert Luthuli’s visit to the University in the early 1960s, when the then-president-general of the African National Congress fell to the ground after being assaulted by a young student.

However, there is nothing in the UP Archives to show that that the visit had even happened. From what is available in the archives today, “Albert Luthuli never had the opportunity to visit the University,” said Prof O’Connell.

Even in 2015 and 2016, amid the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall protests, UP “squandered” the opportunity to make amends, not only to the Luthuli family but also for events of long ago, colonialism and slavery, that had made such moments possible.

“In the wake of student protests, the opportunity to transform was left spinning and trapped, unable to breathe in a vortex of metal turnstiles,” she said, referring to the security measures put in place in reaction to the protests.

Now, in 2023, UP has an “incredible opportunity” for redress. “We will imagine and re-imagine curricula of the sort that responds to South Africa and to students who are the first from their community to make it here, who may come from homes that are headed by young people, who may be afraid that they do not belong.”

Becoming known for boldness and compassion

“By setting out to understand all its students, and thinking and acting boldly, the University can stake its place as a benchmark space of higher learning in, and of, Africa,” said Prof O’Connell. “We can be known as the African university capable of having the most difficult of conversations, of not tinkering with the edges of change, and of looking at the past with compassion.”

Professor Tawana Kupe, UP Principal and Vice-Chancellor, who gave the opening address at the conference, agreed that “you can’t tinker at the top or on the sides with education”. He said change has to be articulated right through the organisation.

During question time, he and other Senate members emphasised the necessity for UP and its staff to embrace curriculum transformation wholeheartedly and not to avoid difficult questions – including the issue of whether the UP has too many students who should rather be attending technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges.

“We are ducking these questions,” Prof Kupe said.

No transformation without language change

The point was strongly made that the use of African languages and curriculum transformation go hand in hand.

“As a university, we need to take the role of African languages seriously. The monolingual model is excluding people who have the potential to succeed,” said Professor Chika Sehoole, Dean of the Faculty of Education, during a panel discussion on African languages in higher education.

He gave the example of a taxi driver he had encountered who speaks 10 African languages. “He asked, ‘Teach me English, it will open doors for me’,” said Prof Sehoole. He noted the irony that, by normative standards, someone who could speak one language, English, was considered intelligent, while a person who can speak 10 languages but not English was considered the opposite.

“That is an indictment on how we judge the inability to speak English, as well as how we speak English,” said Professor Loretta Feris, Vice-Principal: Academic, who was facilitating the discussion.

The notion that only certain accents are acceptable must be dispelled, said Professor Mbulungeni Madiba of Stellenbosch University, adding that it is important to help people understand that there is no preferred accent.

The 2023 Senate Conference continues on Friday, 17 February, with a combination of plenary sessions featuring speakers from academia, industry and indigenous knowledge practice, as well as breakaway sessions.

Curriculum transformation in practice

Four case studies on curriculum transformation in practice were presented during the first day of the 2023 Senate Conference:

Dr Lelanie Smith and Thabang Ngwenya from the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) spoke about their work in “Vertically integrated projects: Rethinking the Engineering Curriculum Group.

Dr Heather Thuynsma and Yanga Malotana of Faculty of Humanities presented their work on “Comparative Regional Politics: The Global Classroom”.

Professor Liz Wolvaardt from the School of Health Systems and Public Health spoke about the Online Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health.

Prof Louise Whittaker from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) presented on gamification of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration.

Other conference highlights

For his welcoming speech, Prof Kupe had two sets of prepared remarks – one of which was written by the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. He shared this after reading the first set of prepared remarks, from ChatGPT, adding that he would not be reading the second set as it was largely similar to the ChatGPT version.

However, what ChatGPT had been unable to do was provide a long historical reflection on human civilisation and knowledge. It was important to the curriculum transformation debate to go further back in history than imperialism and colonialism, which were relatively recent developments.

When going back to the Gold Collections, such as the Mapungubwe Gold Collection known for its gold artefacts, it becomes clear that science was at the heart of the Mapungubwe kingdom’s way of life.

“Colonialism and apartheid do not define all of human history,” Prof Kupe said. “We need to go back to where knowledge is created, to where we came from.”

SUPPLIED: UP

THE University of Johannesburg (UJ) has unveiled its new electric vehicle (EV) buses, in what is a first for a South African university. The EV buses, which will be added to the existing fleet, have already begun ferrying students between various campuses. 

The buses are the latest innovation in UJ’s ongoing efforts at going green, as part of the University’s plans to reduce carbon emissions, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines green cities as those that are dedicated to achieving environmental, social, and economic sustainability, with a focus on minimising inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, heat output, and pollution. UJ has, in recent years, made strategic moves to improve its sustainability footprint. 

On Tuesday, 7 February 2023, there was excitement all around as one of the two brightly painted EV buses, branded in UJ’s signature orange and white, pulled out of Auckland Park Kingsway (APK) Campus into Joburg’s morning traffic. Aboard the bus were members of the University’s Executive Leadership Group (ELG), who were travelling to a meeting at one of the University’s off-campus venues in the city. And true to its nature, and unlike its diesel counterparts, the electric bus did not belch any toxic fumes. Not only do the EV buses produce much lower carbon emissions, but they also perform well, offering a smooth ride even on steep routes. 

Decreasing UJ’s carbon footprint

Special Projects advisor Professor Andre Nel explained the process that led to this project coming to fruition. “It started more than 18 months ago, as part of our drive to reduce our carbon footprint at UJ. We’ve always had a strong focus on sustainability issues. After implementing large numbers of solar panels, one of the next questions was how can we further make UJ sustainable? After some research, the obvious answer was how we were going to cut our carbon emissions in one area, and that area was transport. Transport makes up about four-and-a-half percent of UJ’s footprint and reducing that in any way is something we desired”. 

So what will happen when load shedding strikes and the buses can’t be charged? And what about their environmental friendliness, given that they are charged using coal-generated electricity? Dr Mpoti Ralephata, UJ’s Chief Operations Officer, was quick to allay such concerns. He said 15% of our energy at UJ comes from solar, which is enough to power the buses. “We will have to have loadshedding for more than five hours a night to affect overnight charging,” he said. 

4IR in action

Among those aboard the buses was Dr Nolitha Vukuza: Senior Executive Director: University Relations, Student Affairs and UJ Sport. “My experience is quite unprecedented because I’ve never been on an electric bus before. This is a day of celebration… We keep on talking about the fourth industrial revolution, and today it’s all about 4IR in action. I am also happy that the new VC (Vice-Chancellor and Principal Designate, Professor Letlhokwa Mpedi) has been talking about 4IR for societal impact. What a way to make it impactful,” she said, shortly before the bus drove off. 

The buses may at first glance – and from a distance – give the impression that they are part of the generation of the existing fleet. It’s only once you hop on that you realise that you have indeed entered into the fourth industrial revolution.

Most impressive is the amount of noise you will experience while the bus is running. Unlike the normal diesel-powered engines, the EV buses are almost silent – with the loudest sound being the humming of the air conditioning system.

Each bus has a capacity of 76 passengers, with 57 seated and 19 standing. 

For added safety, the buses are fitted with closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and stop buttons.

The stop buttons make communication with operators easier, as passengers can draw the driver’s attention without being intrusive when approaching their destination. Adding to the high-tech design of the buses is that they are equipped with USB charging ports so that passengers can keep their gadgets running while onboard, for convenience. 

To get a bus fully charged, it would need to be left on the plug point for at least five-and-a-half hours. But that’s time worth investing in because it powers the bus enough to enable it to cover up to a 350 km range. The distance is significantly less than the 200 km of the entire bus route that the buses will cover. There are currently two charge points for the buses, one on campus and one at the bus depo.

An added beauty of these buses is that they are a gift that keeps on giving. Over the average 15-year lifespan which is expected that a bus will cover, these buses will save on fuel costs.

Another advantage is that they require less maintenance than their diesel counterparts. Due to the high-tech nature of the EV buses, and specifically because of the new technology that they come with, it is envisaged that drivers will be retrained in how to handle this fleet. 

Prof Mpedi was brimming with excitement at seeing the University’s vision come to life: “These buses are an example of 4IR in action. They are part of a legacy that we want to leave for future generations. As a testament to our position as a leader, we are the first university to make use of EV buses for commercial purposes.”

Prof Mpedi added that the buses are aligned with the institution’s sixth strategic objective, which is ‘fitness for global excellence and stature’.

“These buses are a tangible contribution towards achieving that goal. They are also a physical manifestation of our commitment towards the goal of being a sustainable institution that strives to implement improvements and actions across all spheres of its campus activities. We firmly believe that sustainable development is a long-term commitment. We aim to contribute to sustainability by reducing our environmental footprint while enhancing our contributions to the social and economic development of South Africa.” 

Engineering News

THE assault on public education currently unfolding in state legislatures across the United States stands to annually transfer tens of billions of dollars from public treasuries to the bank accounts of upper-income families.

Those dollars, which otherwise would have gone to public schools, will instead reimburse parents currently paying private school tuition. It’s a reverse Robin Hood scheme that Americans would hate if they fully understood what was going on.

That’s not the sales pitch, of course. As Betsy DeVos and her allies like to put it, their cause is “education freedom.” They want American families to have “options” beyond their local public schools. And their plan for creating those options is to push various forms of school vouchers.

The money that otherwise would have gone to local schools, instead, would be given to families. Families could then take those dollars—sometimes loaded on an actual debit card—and spend them at whatever kind of school, or on whatever kind of educational product, they want.

There are many reasons to dislike this plan. Public schools are open to all, meaning that they can’t turn students away on the basis of characteristics like ability or identity. And public schools serve the public good. That’s why we fund them with our tax dollars—because we expect them to serve all of us. Private schools, by contrast, can turn students away for nearly any reason, including that they have disabilities that make them more expensive to educate.

As more states adopt programs that use taxpayer dollars to fund private schools, taxpayers are increasingly footing the bill for discrimination. In Florida, for instance, a religious school that notified families this fall that LGBTQ students were no longer welcome and would be asked to leave immediately still receives more than $1.6 million a year in public funds through the state’s private school voucher program.

But school voucher plans are a raw deal not just for public schools and the students who attend them but also for taxpayers. Programs like the one jammed through by the Republican legislature in Iowa this week stand to immediately transfer massive amounts of cash directly from state treasuries to the families that least need it. While proponents, like Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, sold the plan as a way to give choices to poor and middle-class families, the program will chiefly subsidize the parents who already send their kids to private schools.

The cost of that subsidy is significant—an estimated $340 million each year once the plan is fully phased in—and will be borne by the 500,000 students who attend the state’s underfunded public schools.

And it’s not just in Iowa that Republicans are pulling off this reverse Robin Hood maneuver. In Arizona, where lawmakers recently made all students eligible for school vouchers, 75 percent of the students who applied for the new subsidy never attended public school. The same dynamic is playing out in New Hampshire, where GOP legislators enacted an “education freedom” program over stiff public opposition. At Laconia Christian Academy, for instance, all but two families in the school took advantage of the program, pulling roughly half a million dollars out of the public treasury.

While earlier voucher programs, like the one adopted in Milwaukee more than 30 years ago, were limited to families enrolled in public schools, and came with strict income qualifications, the plans being adopted now dispense with any such limits, or adopt them only as temporary gestures designed as political cover.

The real goal is always a universal voucher open to all. And the math here isn’t pretty. Approximately 10 percent of students are presently enrolled in private schools—that’s just under 5 million students who would qualify for vouchers worth roughly $10,000 each, depending on the per-pupil expenditures in their states. When public schools are already systematically underfunded in most parts of the country, draining off an additional $50 billion each year will hurt quite a bit.

Who will benefit? Boosters claim it will be students presently denied “options.” Yet most families won’t leave their public schools. According to polling, most are satisfied with their children’s schools, even if they’d like to see more resources directed to them. And many families—like those in rural areas, or low-income families with limited access to transportation—are unlikely to ever have many viable “options.” Forty-two of Iowa’s 99 counties don’t have a single private school. Neither do the majority of zip codes in Utah, where yet another budget-busting voucher program is under consideration. For rural communities, draining resources from the public system is just another disinvestment in their children.

Mainly, the beneficiaries of these schemes will be the families presently paying private school tuition. An extra $10,000 or so each year, for each child presently enrolled in private school, will pay for things that will remain out of reach for most American families—a luxury vacation, a down payment on a new car, an addition to the retirement account. For those families wealthy enough to stockpile voucher money while continuing to pay private school tuition, the additional funds may even pay for college, as one Iowa Republican acknowledged last year.

Those left behind will simply have fewer resources. And that’s part of the design. Cutting the nation’s public school budgets off at the knees will dramatically reduce the tax burden on the wealthy. Equally important, it will shift schooling out of the realm of democratic politics and into the free market. And perhaps best of all in the eyes of voucher supporters, it will deal a fatal blow to teachers unions.

In an age of staggering income inequality, America’s public education system remains one of the last and best mechanisms for advancing equal opportunity. And that is precisely why it is a target. For all their high-minded rhetoric about “education freedom,” advocates of voucher schemes have repeatedly tipped their hands, revealing what they really value. They’ve got their own version of Robin Hood, and he already has his hands in the public purse.

THE NATION

PHUTI MOSOMANE

THE South African Democratic Teachers’ Union says it is extremely concerned by increasing number of violent incidents at South African schools. 

This comes after a series of incidents of violence were reported at various schools in the form of bullying, suicide, stabbing and shooting since the beginning of the 2023 academic year.

The teachers’ union called on President Cyril Ramaphosa and relevant ministries to establish a police unit dedicated to school violence in South Africa, including offering psycho-social services at schools.

“Violence in schools is increasing unabated and our schools, instead of being safe havens they are meant to be, are endangering the lives of teachers and learners,” said SADTU General-Secretary, Mugwena Maluleke.

Maluleke said the tragedy of South African schools is that they do not have enough infrastructure to ensure learners, teachers and communities do not bring weapons to schools. 

“We call for properly trained security personnel to oversee security in schools. We therefore reiterate our call to all stakeholders in education, more especially, communities and parents to be involved in schools in their neighbourhoods,” he added. 

“SADTU is calling for the creation of safe spaces for learners to confide in them about the issues they face. We again reiterate our call for dedicated psychosocial services in schools.

SADTU said during 2023 academic year alone, there were more incidents of violence at the following provinces since the reopening of schools in January:  

· At Geluksdal Secondary School in Brakpan, Gauteng: A Grade 10 learner was stabbed to death allegedly by fellow learners.

·  At Kagiso Secondary School, Gauteng: A man allegedly entered the school and took hostage some staff members. He allegedly stabbed and wounded one of the teachers and was subsequently shot dead by another teacher.

·  At Tlotlisong Secondary School in Ficksburg, Free State: A Grade 9 pupil allegedly poisoned himself and died following alleged humiliation by teachers in front of other learners. Following the suicide, angry learners attacked teachers, damaged the school, police and teachers’ vehicles accusing them for being the cause of the learner’s death.

·  At Sonyongwane High School, Southern KwaZulu Natal: A 17-year old Grade 11 learner committed suicide allegedly because of bullying by her schoolmates who constantly told her she was ugly and teased her about the shape of her head.

·  At Ntsu Secondary School in Bethlehem, Free State: The school principal allegedly used corporal punishment on a learner who had allegedly skipped detention.

Said Maluleke: “These incidents clearly indicate that schools are no longer safe havens they are supposed to be, but they endanger the lives of learners as well as teachers.” 

Maluleke said the union will now engage the Presidency and other government ministries and agencies to join hands with SADTU as it rolls out “I am A School Fan” campaign.

“Through this campaign, we acknowledge that schools are a microcosm of the society and therefore the violence cannot be divorced from what is happening in the community. We aim to mobilise for more parental and societal involvement including the private sector to play an active role in ensuring that our schools are safer,” he said.

Maluleke also said SADTU condemns the use of corporal punishment by teachers as it was a violation of children’s rights and dignity, and “perpetuates violence and may lead to the learner being aggressive and anti-social.”

“In a number of schools across the country we still observe the sexual assault and harassment of learners by those who are supposed to protect being teachers. This group of unprofessional sex pests continue to damage the profession. It is only counterrevolutionaries who can engage in this kind of violence against our children in our schools,” said Maluleke.

INSIDE EDUCATION

JENNIFER WARREN

WITH the New Mexico legislative session in full swing, there is a lot of talk going around regarding how to improve our educational outcomes. There are a variety of bills – House Bills 130 and 194 to name two – seeking to address this, but for the most part, they are assuming that simply adding more time – minutes, hours or days – to the school year will lead to the hoped-for results.

Instead, why not implement what teachers know will improve student learning and put money into these areas that will have a direct, measurable and positive effect on the students and families of New Mexico? Last month, I was at the Roundhouse twice and could see there is much effort going into the writing of these bills. In conversations with my fellow teachers, though, we quickly came up with many alternative solutions. If even just a few of them are undertaken, we will see results. I am asking for money to be put into these areas, rather than simply adding time:

• Reduce classroom sizes. Small class size has been proven to be the most successful way to address learning challenges and for overall student success.

• Bring back K-5 Plus that is voluntary so that teachers who want to teach during the summer can, and those who prefer not to aren’t forced to. Many parents have mentioned they will simply not bring their students those last two weeks if we just add more days to the school year.

• Allow for individual districts to continue to offer enticing summer month-long camps in a variety of subject/interest areas such as STEAM. Also continue the Newcomers Program as an enriching opportunity.

• Create a “Parent Academy” at some/all schools to help parents better support their students.

• Create community partnerships with existing kids’ camps to offer opportunities to those receiving special education services. This would allow them to access experiences they would not otherwise be able to offer and challenge the community to find creative ways for kids of a variety of abilities to participate.

• Provide more educational assistants in classrooms to allow teachers to provide more individualized support during regular class times, assist in classroom management, and be able to act as substitutes when teachers need to be absent so other teachers and administrators can do their own jobs instead of getting pulled into classes to sub, and pay these EAs a livable wage for their important work.

• Have in-service days built into the schedule where teachers can attend relevant professional development, have opportunities to visit other schools and talk with colleagues from around the district.

• Provide teachers with subs so they can observe in other schools/classrooms, thus gaining valuable insights and ideas to apply in their classrooms.

• Continue to offer affordable, quality child care to families throughout New Mexico.

• Address the need for legislation on excessive absences; currently students are promoted no matter how many absences they have.

Teachers have rarely had a voice in addressing educational issues. This needs to change.

Jennifer Warren teaches first grade at Nina Otero Community School in Santa Fe.

GLOBAL chemicals and energy company Sasol and independent statutory body the National Research Foundation (NRF) have established and awarded four jointly-funded South African research chairs.

A competitive call was launched during 2022 for two chairs that considered the critical areas of research investment in energy and power systems modelling, and green hydrogen.

Informed by the “excellence” of the proposals submitted, it was agreed that two additional chairs would be funded.

This total joint investment of more than R40-million over the next five years is expected to significantly increase the capacity and capability of South Africa in just energy transitions.

In addition, and considering the specialist areas of skills necessary, six fellowships have been awarded as part of the bespoke joint Postdoctoral Innovation Fellowships Programme.

These awards are expected to stimulate and accelerate joint academia-industry research in clean and sustainable energy and contribute to South Africa’s transition towards sustainable clean energy.

AWARDS

Two Sasol-NRF Research Chairs in Energy and Power Systems Modelling have been awarded to Professor Ramesh Bansal from the University of Pretoria (UP) and Professor Sunetra Chowdhury from the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Two Sasol-NRF Research Chairs in Green Hydrogen have been awarded to Professor Tien-Chien Jen from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Professor Prathieka Naidoo from Stellenbosch University.

Meanwhile, six postdoctoral innovation programme fellowships have been awarded and focus on research in the areas of green hydrogen, energy storage, waste utilisation towards a circular economy, in-situ characterisation of catalysts, and Fischer-Tropsch catalysis for power-to-liquids applications.

The successful applicants are from UJ, UP, UCT, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Durban University of Technology and North-West University. The two-year fellowships will include dedicated research time at Sasol’s research facilities in Sasolburg.

The growing partnership between Sasol and the NRF is posited to play a key role in the acceleration of the co-creation of knowledge for impact and skills development, and to address the critical energy challenges, showcasing the value of effective partnership within the innovation ecosystem.

These programmes are said to further advance the strong partnership among Sasol, the Sasol Foundation and the NRF that has supported 400 students and researchers from academic and research performing institutions in South Africa.  

Engineering News

UTSA kinesiology major Kendall Kloza was born and raised in San Antonio in an athletic family. Her mother retired from a 30-year career teaching dance and her father serves as the head football coach at Robert E. Lee High School. From gymnastics and dance to volleyball and basketball, Kloza has been involved in sports from the moment she took her first steps. Today, she is one of the top soccer players at UTSA and a competitive Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners Scholarship recipient.

Originally a student-athlete at a university in Virginia, Kloza felt something was missing. During a visit to UTSA, she fell in love with the community and the positive team culture in the athletics department—a missing part of her experience on the East Coast—and decided to transfer and move back to San Antonio. Now in her fourth year as a Roadrunner, Kloza’s supportive coaches and teammates continue affirming that she made the right decision when she returned home to Texas.

“All of the coaches here have made me the player that I am today and the person I am today, and I mean that whole heartedly. I am so glad I chose to come back to San Antonio for UTSA,” Kloza said.

Highly involved in campus life, Kloza has been a recruiting assistant for Roadrunners Football for the past two years. In this role, she accompanies prospective student-athletes on campus tours to answer any questions they have and spends time with their families downtown to make their visits to the city more comfortable and comprehensive.

She also leads the university’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where she attends weekly leadership meetings and conducts Bible studies in community meetings with other members on the soccer team.

Her extracurricular activities and excellent athletic and academic performance earned her the Valero Bowl Community Partners Scholarship, which is allowing her to continue working hard without the burden of financial stress.

“My scholarship has given me so much peace of mind. First of all, to receive a scholarship at a Division I university really acknowledges all of the hard work I’ve put in over the years. It also shows me that I’ll be taken care of while getting a full UTSA college experience without financial stress,” Kloza said.

Kloza is dedicated to helping people grow in their fitness, personal and spiritual goals and plans to continue on this path after graduating this fall. She spent this past summer interning at a family-owned gym in San Antonio, LivingStone Athletics, where she enjoyed coaching CrossFit. Her experience opened her eyes to the idea of professional coaching and the possibility of opening up her own gym after receiving her degree.

“I really want to say thank you to those that invest in us students. I hope they realize how much scholarships help us and how much easier they make the lives of all student-athletes. Their support opens up doors of endless opportunities.”

UTSA

MINISTER of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has invited the public to comment on the proposed
2026 calendar for public schools.

All interested persons and organisations are invited to comment on the Proposed 2026 School Calendar in writing and direct the comments to the Director-General for the Department of Basic Education, for the attention of Mr S Mlambo, e-mail: Mlambo.S@dbe.gov.za; cc Manaka.L@dbe.gov.za.

The Proposed 2026 School Calendar and the National Policy for Determining School Calendars for Public Schools in South Africa (The Policy) is obtainable on the following Departmental website: http://www.education.gov.za.

INSIDE EDUCATION

EDWIN NAIDU

LAST month, the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation visited several KwaZulu-Natal Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) project sites.

The committee, led by Chairperson Nompumelelo Mkhatshwa and accompanied by senior managers of the DSI and Department of Higher Education and Training, visited several research facilities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Biorefinery Industry Development Facility to learn more about how DSI-funded initiatives work.  

On 24 and 25 January 2023, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation conducted oversight visits to several sites in KwaZulu-Natal, where the DSI funds programmes.

Following the walkabout at the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility, which is working on using the methods developed to ascertain the causes or sources of problems in manufacturing, Ms Mkhatshwa said that there are not enough women in science and that institutions like these need more women to take engineering and science courses so that South Africa can grow its scientific expertise.

Professors at UKZN made presentations on the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), the Aerospace Systems Research Group (ASReG), and the Indigenous Knowledge Bioprospecting and Product Development Platform, and committee members engaged with management on the presentations.

Mkhatshwa said she was pleased to be at UKZN to see how the DSI was using government funding and to make sure it could account for expenditure.  She added that the Department’s work needed to impact the citizens of this country directly, or it would be meaningless.

“I imagine a day when a young black person from rural KwaZulu-Natal can be, for example, an astronaut who goes to the moon. As the committee, we look forward to the day when young people from all backgrounds can take the lead in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, allowing South Africa to become a global leader in this field,” said Ms Mkhatshwa.

UKZN Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nana Poku echoed this sentiment, saying that the future of science can only be addressed fully if universities go to schools to motivate, enthuse, and give learners a sense of purpose to engage with science.
 
Highlighting genomic surveillance at KRISP

According to Prof. Tulio de Oliveira, the director of KRISP, the platform aims to put science on the global stage through critical interventions like genomic surveillance, which can significantly assist South Africa in investigating gender-based violence cases by providing DNA.

Prof De Oliveira said that African science should take centre stage globally, and Africa’s scientists can assist the rest of the world to prepare for the next pandemic.

“African and other low and middle-income countries need the opportunity to lead global consortiums, host large grants and events, and guide the global scientific agenda.”
 
Advancing space-related research through ASReG 

The ASReG, located within UKZN’s School of Engineering, runs flagship programmes such as the Phoenix Hybrid Sounding Rocket Programme, a rocket training programme started in the context of the government’s prioritisation of skills and resource development in space-related research.

“We need to give hope to the young people of this country, and this rocket technology can help us do that,” said Prof. Michael Brooks, co-founder of the ASReG.

As ASReG is the only dedicated sounding rocket propulsion research group in South Africa, it generates substantial human capital in mechanical and aerospace engineering research.  

In 2021, it launched the Phoenix-1B Mk II-R rocket, which set a new African altitude record of 17.9 km.  

Prof. Brooks also spoke about the ASReg’s talent pipeline programme, which acts as a bridge from the undergraduate to the postgraduate level by exposing students’ talents to aerospace engineering and providing them with financial assistance.  Last year, the programme reached approximately 1 600 schools in rural KZN and surrounding communities.

Building indigenous knowledge systems

Representatives from the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) Task Team, comprised of leaders from traditional health organisations and traditional healers, shared their experiences working with traditional medicines and how they collaborate with the university using their knowledge and skills.

Traditional healer Thulani Shangase, a steering committee member, said that traditional healers should be included in nation-building activities and that the committee would advocate for the recognition and integration of indigenous knowledge into the country’s landscape.

Mayashree Chinsamy, the Research Manager for the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in IKS at UKZN, said that the centre uses a ground-up approach in science, research, and community engagement to influence the centre’s areas of focus.

For example, she said, most people associate IKS with traditional medicine as it is usually the first thing that comes to mind. “We are talking about community-based knowledge systems, or culturally and ecologically specific knowledge,” she said.

“If you go into a certain space and look at the cultural communities there, yo u will notice that they have devised a certain knowledge system from different disciplines coming together to live and survive. People have been putting knowledge on the ground for a long time, whether to ensure food and nutrition security or public health and well-being. They are the scientists on the ground,” added Chinsamy.

Prof. Nceba Gqaleni, a Fractional Research Professor at UKZN, said that boosting traditional medicine can solve societal problems that Western medicine cannot cure.

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