By Lungile Ntimba 

The Democratic Alliance in Gauteng has urged all parents whose children are still without school placement for the 2025 academic year, to utilise the walk-in centtes established by the Basic Education Department.

The department has extended online placement deadlines for Grades 1 and 8 learners to the end of January.

DA MPL Sergio Isa Dos Santos criticised the department’s decision, saying it underscored the chronic issues plaguing the province’s education system.

He highlighted the urgent need for more schools due to the high demand for school placements.

“The GDE’s reliance on mobile classrooms is a clear example of a failure to effectively plan for future growth and demand,” Dos Santos said in a statement on Thursday.

“The GDE and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure must ensure that delayed school projects are completed urgently.”

In response to the challenges faced at the beginning of each academic year, the DA has urged the department to open the online application process earlier in the year. 

This would give enough time for processing applications, thereby avoiding the chaos and delays.

Furthermore, Dos Santos emphasised the importance of prioritising the enhancement of the department’s communication process and admissions system. 

“This can be achieved by ensuring that walk-in centres remain open and by deploying teams to visit local shopping malls, where parents can receive assistance with their application submissions,” he added.

He believes that this approach would help bridge the digital divide and ensure that all families have equal access to the admissions process.

The department announced in December that it would address the challenge of overcrowding in high-pressure areas by installing 625 mobile units to create satellite schools in regions such as Lawley, Tembisa and Eastvale.

Once placements are completed, outstanding learners will be placed in the satellite schools.

INSIDE EDUCATION 

By Johnathan Paoli

The Basic Education Portfolio Committee has called on both the department and the Information Regulator (IR) to prioritise the needs of learners amidst the battle surrounding the publishing of matric results.

Committee chair Joy Maimela said that uncertainty surrounding the publication of the results could potentially lead to increased anxiety among the expectant matriculants.

“These learners are probably almost as stressed now whilst awaiting the announcement of the results on Monday as they were when writing the NSC examinations. We appeal to all to not add to heightened stress levels. The back and forth can lead to added anxiety for these candidates,” Maimela said.

She urged the parties involved to resolve the matter amicably and reiterated her commitment to prioritising the interests of learners.

“Let us rather focus on all our learners’ emotional and psychological wellbeing and support them as best as we can,” Maimela said.

The dispute centres on the department’s practice of publishing matric results in newspapers, a tradition challenged by the Regulator.

The Regulator issued an enforcement notice in November, asserting that the practice violated the Protection of Personal Information Act.

Despite being ordered to cease the practice within 31 days, the department did not comply, prompting the Regulator to seek an urgent court interdict.

However, the court struck the matter from the roll, deeming it non-urgent, and ordered the Regulator to cover the legal costs.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Amy Musgrave

The Pretoria high court has ruled that the Information Regulator’s (IR) bid to block the Basic Education Department from publishing the 2024 matric results in newspapers is not urgent.

This means that Minister Siviwe Gwarube will announce the National Senior Certificate exam results next Monday, and media platforms will publish the results the following day.

Judge Ronèl Tolmay said on Wednesday that the IR, which was opposed to the marks being made public due to concerns around privacy, had not moved with speed in its application.

“No persuasive reasons were given by the IR on why the application was delayed, the Regulator also waited 10 months to publish the assessment done after the 2023 publication of results,” she said.

Learners needed to take central stage and their interests were not prioritised in this application, the judge said.

The matter was struck off the roll, which means the 2024 matric results will be published on media platforms, including newspapers.

The urgent application was opposed by the department and civil rights group AfriForum.

The IR had raised concerns that the public release of the matric results violated the rights to privacy for learners under the Protection of Personal Information Act.

However, the department and AfriForum argued that pupils were not identified as only their student numbers were made public.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

The North Gauteng High Court has adjourned its decision over the application brought by the Information Regulator (IR) to halt the publishing of the 2024 National Senior Certificate examination results.

Judge Ronel Tolmay postponed the case to Wednesday, in order to consider the arguments of both parties.

Tolmay speaking during the trial, outlined a significant issue with the urgency of the application brought by the IR.

“The matric results were published. There was the initial court order of 2022 so in 2022 and 2023, the matric results were published. Your client was well aware that the matrics write exams in the last part of the year, so what makes this year different from 22 and 23? Why is it urgent now?” Tolmay asked.

The Basic Education Department’s legal team argued that there was no urgency in the application brought by the IR saying that the urgency is self-created.

Counsel for the IR, however, argued that the department’s past issuance of consent forms to learners was an acceptance that the dissemination of exam results using exam numbers did contravene the Protection of Personal Information Act.

The Regulator previously issued an infringement notice to the department in December in which it ordered the DBE to pay an administrative fine of R5 million following its failure to comply with the enforcement notice issued on 18 November.

The notice had ordered the department to provide an undertaking “that it will not publish the results of the 2024 matriculants in the newspapers” within 31 days from the date on which the order was served.

It also ordered that the department “must not publish the results for the 2024 matriculants in newspapers and must make these results available to the learners using methods that are compliant with POPIA”.

The Regulator indicated that should the department fail to abide by the notice within the stipulated time frame, “it will be guilty of an offence, in terms of which the Regulator may impose an administrative fine in the amount not exceeding R10 million, or liable upon conviction to a fine or to imprisonment of the responsible officials”.

The 31 days given to the department expired on 19 December.

Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters has come out in support for the IR.

EFF spokesperson Leigh-Anne Mathys said that the publishing of results on a public platform would only cause more trouble than assist learners.

“To release matriculant examination results publicly enhances nothing and instead creates an opportunity for ridicule and humiliation of those who may not have performed well when compared to their peers,” Mathys said.

She held that education should never be used as a means of negative competition or humiliation, which discourage young people from bettering themselves.

INSIDE EDUCATION  

By Edwin Naidu

South Africa’s complex education system owes a debt of gratitude to former Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu, the country’s first education chief under democratic rule.

When interviewed on the Durban beachfront in December 1993, Prof. Bengu excitedly shared his vision for an education that served all citizens equally.

Soft-spoken and mild-mannered, he spoke about how, under one banner, education would be the foundation on which the new South Africa would be built.

As a young reporter, I was thrilled to have the first interview with the man President Nelson Mandela chose in 1994 to lead our country’s post-apartheid education transformation. Excitedly, I wrote the story echoing his vision. Prof. Bengu was photographed on the beach.

Sadly, my story made it as a filler in the Sunday Tribune because newspapers in Durban in the early nineties had people who didn’t bother about transformation. They pretended to care but perpetuated the old white boys and girls club. Anyway, media transformation is a story for another day when one can name and shame those white men who, to this day, pat each other on the back as heroes, yet few can truly say they passed the muster.

Despite not delivering on an interview that would have set the country’s education agenda, Bengu was always receptive to me. Through special advisor Thami Mseleku and spokesperson Lincoln Mali, I enjoyed access to the professor while writing for The Star when it was a serious paper of record after leaving the Durban rag where I admit I learned much despite having some myopic souls who were part of my development.

I grew closer to education transformation by writing for the inspiring Karen MacGregor, who edited Higher Education Review, published in the New Nation and The Mercury. She was clear in her commission and understood education, something sorely lacking in education coverage today. I found writing for her a joy. Although it was to be short-lived when the Higher Education Review was discontinued, I was happy to re-engage with MacGregor later at University World News. She gave me a great platform to tell the story of higher education and it brought me into contact often with the minister and officials in the department.

When Prof. Bengu retired in 1999, in Parliament, he did not have to but praised the work of journalists, such as Cornia Pretorius, Primarashni Pillay (Gower) and I, for objectively contributing to telling the story of a transforming system with its many challenges.

Prof. Bengu never got the credit he deserved. But the many men and women he led, along with him, undoubtedly helped lay the foundation for a system still in transition to serve society.

“Today, I woke up to the news of the passing of one of the giants of our education and political history, Professor Sibusiso Bengu. Lincoln Mali conveyed the news to me. Lincoln & I, together with Sis Sheila Sisulu, worked closely with the Prof. as he navigated the challenges of moving the education system from a racially divided apartheid system of 17 different departments of education, racially designated and divided higher education system, & offensive apartheid curricula, to a single non-racial, non-sexist, and rights-based education system,” wrote Mseleku.

Sometime last year, I managed to obtain a phone number for the professor, as I knew he was feeling poorly and I wanted to wish him well. I got through and spoke to Mrs Bengu. She passed the phone to him and said he was able to listen to what I had said.

It was not the ideal conversation, but it was good to acknowledge his contribution to creating a single education system. He once told me that creating a single education system was like turning around a plane from its intended course without crashing.

Hamba Kahle, Prof. Bengu!

Edwin Naidu is the Editor for Inside Education.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Lincoln Mali and Thami Mseleku

A few days ago, Prof. Sibusiso Mandlenkosi Emanuel Bengu passed away peacefully surrounded by his family. As we celebrate his life, those of us close to him also celebrate a second lease of life for this remarkable man. 

The highlight of Prof. Bengu’s illustrious career was when he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela as the Minister of Education in 1994. This joy and excitement were short lived as he suffered a debilitating stroke.

Given the importance of the portfolio and the huge challenges that lay ahead, there was much speculation as to whether he would come back and resume his duties. What the public did not know, and what a few of us learnt very quickly, was that Prof. Bengu was a fighter, who had been underestimated and written off so many times in his life.

He had a steely resolve and fierce determination to go back to his job and tackle the challenges that faced our education system. The unsung heroine in this story is the unconditional love, support and faith of his wife, aunt Funeka Bengu, and his children during this time. They rallied behind Prof. Bengu and nursed him back to health. 

Aunt Funeka took charge of the minister’s health, diet, exercise and schedule. Everyone outside the family spent weeks speculating as to whether he would survive, let alone return to a highly stressful role as Minister of Education.

When he made his first speech, held his first press conference and held meetings with our teams, it was quite an emotional moment – the triumph of this exceptional man against all odds. 

To fully understand Prof. Bengu and what made him tick, you must trace his footsteps for over 90 years.

He was born in Kranskop in KwaZulu-Natal. He excelled at school, obtaining his bachelor’s degree and later his honours degree in history in 1966. He completed his PhD studies in Political Science at the University of Geneva’s Graduate Institute of International Studies in 1974.

However, Bengu’s true love was teaching. He began his career as a teacher in 1952 and was renowned throughout education circles for the quality of pupils he produced. One of the highlights of his career, that brought him national prominence, was what he achieved as the inaugural principal of the famous Dlangezwa High School near Empangeni between 1969 and 1976. Even today, pupils, teachers and parents of the school talk about it as a model school for excellence and achievement. 

He left the school in 1977 to become Director of Student Affairs at the University of Zululand. He was fully engaged with students and some of South Africa’s best leaders were influenced by him during his time at the university.

Bengu was also involved in political and cultural issues facing the country.

He was one of the founders of Inkatha, a political/cultural movement, that would dominate the landscape for decades to come. He served as the secretary general of the IFP until policy differences and conflicts within the movement forced him to leave his job at the university, resign from the party, and go to into self-imposed exile in Geneva. This was one of the lowest moments in his life, with attempts on his life and attacks on his home forcing him to leave behind all that he loved. 

In 1978, Prof. Bengu joined the Lutheran World Federation as Secretary for Research and Social Action. This role enabled him to combine his deep Lutheran religious roots with his passion for research and social action. He built a powerful network across the world.

He joined the banned African National Congress and became very close to its president, OR Tambo. 

In the early 1990s, South Africa was characterised by violence, conflicts and instability at higher education institutions. The University of Fort Hare, founded in 1916, was one of the focal points of these struggles. It chose Prof. Bengu to become the first Black Vice-Chancellor in 1991.

After having left South Africa to flee violence and conflict, Prof. Bengu was now being called home to stabilise the institution.

The university has hailed the late education minister.

“Prof. Bengu played a pivotal role in stabilising the institution during the 1990s. He laid the foundation for the university’s transition to democracy, enhancing academic standards, establishing its academic reputation, and securing vital funding from international organisations and donors. His leadership ensured the university’s survival and growth as a prominent centre of African intellectualism,” it said.

Three years later, South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994 and Prof. Bengu was elected as an MP and to Mandela’s Cabinet as education minister.

It was crucial portfolio as education is a highly motive issue in any country. It touches every family and is vital to the health and prosperity of an economy.

The South African education policy space instantly became a contested terrain, with highly polarised views on what was best for our children, the country and economy. The high level of expectations of a new government on education by some stakeholders were equally matched by anxiety and fear from others.

Prof. Bengu had to acknowledge and respond to these diverse sentiments. He had to galvanise all stakeholders in a manner former president Thabo Mbeki describes, “to act together to address both the fears and the expectations, without allowing that these fears are used to perpetuate racism, without allowing that the justified expectations are addressed in a manner that will create new crises”.

Prof. Bengu’s approach to all stakeholders in the education sector was to build understanding, not vengeance, focus on reparation, not retaliation, and craft a vision of the future based on the need for ubuntu and not victimisation.

He served only one parliamentary term in government, declining to seek re-election to the National Assembly in the June 1999 general election. Two months later Mbeki appointed Bengu as South Africa’s ambassador to Germany. He held that position until 2003 when he retired. 

As we reflect on Prof. Bengu’s impact on our lives, the following things stand out:

• Leadership is not a title held, status achieved, nor position occupied. It is rather about the profound influence a leader has. Prof. Bengu influenced so many people positively here and abroad, from his time as a teacher, principal, dean of students, vice-chancellor, education minister and ambassador. He was always teaching in his unique style. 

• Prof. Bengu built a diverse team with great skills and encouraged all of us to play our part towards a greater cause. Some of the luminaries in his team included people such as Chabani Manganyi, Sheila Sisulu, Teboho Moja, Pundy Pillay, Trevor Coombe, Ihron Rensburg, Khetsi Lehoko, Nasima Badsha, Cassius Lubusi, Palesa Tyobeka and Roelf du Preez. He treated us with respect and dignity. He never asserted himself over us, never abused his position and was never dictatorial. He commanded respect, not by virtue of his position, but because of the way he conducted himself. 

• As an accomplished academic and administrator, he never interfered with the administration of the education department under Dr Manganyi and did not involve himself in matters of procurement and tenders in the department. Neither did he have any outside business interests nor abuse state resources. Prof. Bengu was a man of integrity and he instilled probity in all our dealings with public funds. These were profound lessons from a public servant leader, whose commitment was to education and not the politics of the day, nor popularity or the accumulation of wealth.

• South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world with diverse views on how the country should proceed for the next 30 years. Our policy discourse, political rhetoric and social media arguments have more ugly, polarising and dangerous. In a country as diverse as ours, it is natural that we won’t see eye to eye on most things and that is why we need leaders such as Prof. Bengu who can listen with empathy and understanding. He could make progress through extending good faith and grace – even to people with whom he deeply disagreed on policy matters. Our country cries out for leaders like Prof. Bengu, who could find mutually beneficial solutions on intractable challenges.

• Lastly, Prof. Bengu was a role model family man. We could see how he treated aunt Funeka, his children and the broader Bengu clan. He did not change based on his new status. He remained a loving husband, doting father to his children (and later grandchildren) and a committed member of his family. When his time came to retire, he gracefully left the stage, disappeared from public life and spent the last 21 years of his quietly enjoying time with his family and friends. In those times we visited him, we would find a man at peace with himself, in touch with his God and connected to his family. 

Conclusion 

We hope Ngcolosi has that trade mark smile as he reflects on his life, and we hope he will be comforted by the seminal words of US President Theodore Roosevelt who said in 2010: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

As we look back at a remarkable life of 90 years, we feel blessed to have shared a few special moments with Prof. Bengu. His life is a testimony of what can be achieved through grace, humility, integrity and hard work.

In the end, he leaves the stage without a blemish to his name, without a whiff of scandal and thousands who have been directly impacted positively by his guidance and leadership. 

Hamba kakuhle Ngcolosi, your place “shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”.

Ugqatso ulufezile.

Bengu, who died on 30 December, will be laid to rest in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. His Special Official Funeral Category 2, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday, will be held at the University of Zululand on Friday.

Mali is Bengu’s former spokesperson and Mseleku his former political advisor.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Amy Musgrave

The Pretoria high court will hear an urgent application on Tuesday by the Information Regulator (IR) to stop the release of the 2024 matric results on media platforms.

The results will be be announced by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube next week Monday and are meant to be published by the media the following day on Tuesday, 14 January.

While the IR fined the Basic Education Department R5 million for failing to comply with an enforcement notice issued in November, which ordered the department not to publish the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam results, it has also approached the court in an attempt to stop the publication of the marks.

The IR is arguing that releasing the results in the media is a violation of matriculants’ rights to privacy.

The department, civil rights group AfriForum and Maroela Media are opposing the application.

Late last month, the IR said that the department had not provided it with an undertaking that it would not publish the results as ordered in its enforcement notice.

“The DBE had the right to appeal the enforcement notice in terms of Section 97(1) of POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act). POPIA provides, amongst others, that if an appeal is brought, the enforcement notice need not be complied with pending the determination or withdrawal of the appeal.

“The Regulator had not been served with the appeal application by close of business on 19 December 2024 despite media reports that the DBE had lodged an appeal against the decision of the Regulator in the High Court,” it said.

IR chairperson Pansy Tlakula explained that the department could not disobey lawfully issued orders of the Regulator without following the procedure stipulated in the legislation.

“The two orders issued by the Information Regulator against the DBE have the fullest legal force and effect and must be complied with by the DBE until set aside or suspended by an appeal served upon the Regulator timeously,” she said.

AfriForum’s Alana Bailey told Inside Education that it and other parties had succeeded in a case on the same issue in 2022.

A judge ruled in favour of the organisation that the release of the NSC results was in the public interest, and that by using exam numbers instead of the names of Grade 12 learners, the privacy of matriculants was sufficiently protected.

It argues that the 2022 order is still valid.

The department also maintains that the information revealed in the media does not identify a pupil, and is therefore, not in contravention of the Act.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Heidi Matisonn

Whenever school holidays loom, many parents find themselves caught in an emotional tug-of-war: on the one hand, relief at bidding farewell to homework battles, bedtime struggles, and the lamenting of lost lunchboxes; on the other, terror at the daunting prospect of a barrage of “whys” and “buts” from their relentless interrogators.

To avoid logic-defying arguments and endless debates, it is often not long before they find themselves playing the ultimate parental trump card: “because I said so”.

As a parent, I can relate. But I’m also a moral philosopher with almost two decades of teaching experience. In philosophy classes, students who question ideas – and sometimes, in doing so, challenge authority – are praised. Why isn’t the same true for children? Is a child who questions their parents “being cheeky”? Or are they flexing the mental muscles that are necessary for their intellectual growth and ability to navigate the world?

The job of a moral philosopher is to grapple with ideas about right and wrong, good and bad, seeking to answer the ultimate question: “how ought we to live?” While we use a range of strategies to tackle these fundamental ethical questions, one of the most important tools at our disposal is critical thinking.

Critical thinking is the ability to analyse and evaluate information and arguments in a clear, rational and objective manner. When we are confronted with information, critical thinking requires us to consider why this person is saying that. What could be their motive? Is there a different possible explanation?

I’m not suggesting that the goal is to raise argumentative children. Rather, as philosopher, strategic thinker and author Peter Facione explains, it is to nurture inquisitive minds that can interpret, analyse, evaluate and infer from information. In other words, parents should raise their children to be curious, critical thinkers who question everything, even if this means they question us in the process.

How can parents teach critical thinking at home? Here are my five top tips:

1. Ask open-ended questions and encourage children to do the same.

2. Provide children with opportunities to make decisions and solve problems rather than doing it for them.

3. Discuss the reasoning behind rules and decisions you make for them.

4. Encourage children to consider alternative perspectives rather than just their own.

5. Model critical thinking by thinking aloud when approaching problems.

Thinking about our thinking

Critical thinking requires metacognition: thinking about our thinking.

Reflecting on our own views gives us a chance to recognise that they too should be scrutinised and evaluated. If we choose to be vegan, for example, is it because we care about reducing harm to animals, the environment, or both; or because it’s fashionable to be vegan? Once we’ve worked out our reasons for something, we can then evaluate whether these are “good” reasons or not.

Critical thinking also means evaluating other people’s reasons. This requires us to be open to others’ points of view – including our children’s – rather than being blinded by our own biases. At the same time, to be a critical thinker is to take seriously the fact that everyone “has an agenda” (which may not be explicit) and we should therefore not take everything at face value. We can teach our children to be critical thinkers by getting them to consider the quality of the evidence presented for a position.

Put simply, parents and caregivers can promote critical thinking in children by encouraging them to ask questions, challenge assumptions and explore alternative perspectives. Critical thinking requires us not to passively accept everything we read, hear and see but rather to question, evaluate and make judgments.

Here’s what that might look like in practice.

A practical example

Let’s say your child asks why she needs to eat vegetables.

You could respond by saying “That’s a good question. What do you think? Why do you suppose we eat vegetables?” This encourages the child to start thinking about the issue herself.

She replies: “Because you said I have to.”

To get her to think about whether there are reasons beyond parental authority that may be important, you might want to ask: “Is that the only reason? Let’s think about it some more. Do you know anyone else who thinks we should eat vegetables?”

Then, to encourage her to explore alternatives, you could ask: “What do you think would happen if we never ate any vegetables? What if we only ate sweets instead?”

It might also be useful to do some research with your child, to introduce the idea of seeking evidence and reliable information. You could suggest that the two of you look up some facts about what vegetables do for our bodies.

Finally, you could pose the original question back to your child, giving her a chance to synthesise what she’s learnt and form her own conclusion.

Throughout the process, you are guiding your child to question, think about, and arrive at a reasoned understanding, rather than simply accepting a statement at face value.

Other resources

Does this sound daunting? Relax – it’s not all up to you.

Many schools incorporate critical thinking skills across their curricula. Some excellent programmes have been implemented in schools around the world. One example is Philosophy for Children (P4C), developed by educator and philosopher Matthew Lipman in the 1970s. This approach uses structured discussions about open-ended questions and can be used to develop critical thinking skills in children as young as six.

I also like the work of Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2), a Canadian organisation which provides resources and professional development to help educators embed critical thinking in their teaching. Project Zero is another good resource. This research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education has developed several thinking routines and frameworks, such as “visible thinking” and “artful thinking”.

You could also advocate for your child’s school to introduce critical thinking skills into their curricula. Schools could partner with university philosophy departments to offer classes for low or no cost as a community engagement or social responsibility initiative.

Ultimately, whether children are exposed to these skills at home or at school, the key is to create an environment where questioning, reasoning, and exploring ideas are encouraged and valued. The goal is to make critical thinking a natural part of the way we interact with our children so that it becomes a natural part of the way they interact with the world.

Matisonn is a Senior Lecturer in Bioethics, The EthicsLab, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town.

Inside Education

By Dineo Bendile

The Gauteng Department of eGovernment wants to help young South Africans claim their share of the digital economy through the rollout of a training programme that will provide functional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills.  

The department has announced that the project, first mooted in 2023, will officially be launched in 2025 following a successful pilot in Sebokeng in the Vaal.

The training programme will see scores of Gauteng youth equipped with technical skills to repair digital communication tools such as cellphones, laptops and tablets.

The announcement was made by Gauteng e-Government MEC Bonginkosi Dhlamini, who has called for young residents of the province to prepare themselves to sign up for the programme once the official invitation for registration is made.

Dhlamini spoke during the eGovernment department’s Youth ICT Tech Expo in Alexandra in December, where he stressed the importance of South Africans having a piece of the digital economy pie.

“South Africans must occupy this space because ICT is the new gold,” Dhlamini said. “Most importantly, when we give you these opportunities, you must grab them with both hands,” he said.

Since its establishment in 2015, the Department of e-Government has embarked on a number of initiatives to improve the efficiency of provincial government services. This includes the provision of free wi-fi at various public sites across the province.

Alexandra, Johannesburg’s oldest township, is the latest area to benefit from the installation of free wi-fi at schools, clinics and community halls. Dhlamini and his e-Government team visited Alexandra to communicate the department’s various initiatives and how they would benefit residents of the area.

The MEC told Alexandra youths gathered at the Alexsan Kopano Resource Centre about the ICT training programme and urged them to seize the opportunity.

The cellphone repairs sector has been identified as an ideal opportunity for job creation, due to its generally low barrier to entry as well as the potential to make good profits.

Dhlamini said participants of the pilot training programme in Sebokeng earned between R15,000 to R20,000 a month from their cellphone repair businesses.

The Gauteng government says the project will stimulate the growth of local economies by creating an opportunity for young people, many of whom are unemployed, to become economically active.

“In the ICT industry, there are a lot of jobs and money to make. We want to train young people to fix iPads, cellphones and laptops,” Dhlamini said. “And you don’t need a matric to be trained to fix a phone.”

The MEC lamented that the cellphone repair industry was dominated by foreign nationals, who saw an opportunity in South Africa and had set up numerous shops across the country.

“It is wrong that the cellphone repair industry is in the hands of Pakistani nationals. It is wrong,” he said.

“We are not going to chase them away. We just want to train South Africans so they can set up and run their own businesses”.

Dhlamini cautioned South Africans against providing inconsistent, poor-quality services once they qualified to start their repair businesses.

He emphasised that a strong work ethic was the only way local youths could penetrate the market and have staying power against an already established network of foreign-owned businesses.

Negotiations are at an advanced stage between the department and local malls and shopping centres in the province, which are being lobbied to house newly graduated repair technicians once they start their businesses.

On completion of the programme, graduates will be allocated shipping containers that they will use to set up shop. These containers will be placed securely at malls and shopping centres to benefit from maximum foot traffic.

In addition to this, 20 people who show exceptional ability and interest in the field will receive specialised training as ICT engineers in China and India.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

The eagerly awaited 2024 rankings of the top boys’ sports schools were recently unveiled, igniting passionate discussions across South Africa’s school sports community.

For nearly two decades, these rankings have celebrated the country’s leading institutions in athletic performance, sparking both pride and debate among sports enthusiasts.

The rankings, curated by SA School Sport (SASS), assess schools’ performance across six sports: rugby, cricket, soccer, hockey, basketball and water polo.

Westville Boys High School in KwaZulu-Natal achieved top place, followed by Durban High School in second, and Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch at third.

The top 10 schools further included Wynberg Boys’ High School, Rondebosch Boys’ High School, King Edward VII, Grey College, St Stithians, Maritzburg College and Kearsney College.

SASS said the methodology prioritised consistency across these disciplines, providing a holistic view of sports excellence rather than highlighting singular achievements.

The rankings are built on a comprehensive evaluation of performance metrics such as strength of opposition, match outcomes and victory or defeat margins.

To reflect the varying popularity and competitive landscapes of these sports, a weighting system was applied.

Rugby was double-weighted due to its widespread popularity and dominance in boys’ school sports.

Cricket, hockey and soccer were weighted at one and a half, recognising their significant participation rates and importance.

Basketball and water polo retained original values as their participation varies among schools.

The rankings exclusively focused on these six sports, omitting others such as athletics, tennis and rowing due to the lack of consistent national performance data.

As a result, schools excelling in these disciplines may not feature prominently, highlighting the rankings’ focus on breadth over specialisation.

SASS said the rankings aimed to honour schools that demonstrated sustained excellence across all evaluated sports.

While some institutions achieved remarkable success in specific sports, the methodology rewarded those with a balanced, multi-sport approach.

This evaluation provides a guide for parents, students and sports enthusiasts seeking schools that prioritise comprehensive sport development.

SASS said that while some schools would celebrate their top placements, others may question the methodology or highlight overlooked achievements.

After 18 years of publishing these rankings, SASS said it welcomed this spirited engagement as a testament to the passion for school sports in South Africa.

INSIDE EDUCATION