A teenager has pleaded guilty to all 55 counts, including murder, in a shooting nearly two years ago at Apalachee High School in Georgia that killed two students and two teachers.

Colt Gray, 16, entered the plea Friday without having reached a deal with prosecutors. He had previously pleaded not guilty to charges in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting that also left several others wounded, at the high school about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.

Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult with the 55 total counts, including murder in the four deaths and 25 counts of aggravated assault. His trial had been scheduled to start in mid-October.

A jury in March convicted his father, Colin Gray, on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Prosecutors said the elder Gray gave his son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.

Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.

Plea means teen faces life in prison

Before accepting the plea, Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm asked Gray a series of questions meant to ensure that the teenager was aware of the consequences of his plea and was entering it voluntarily. To each question, Gray responded, “Yes, your honor.”

Because he pleaded guilty to murder, Gray faces a minimum sentence of life in prison. The judge must decide whether he should be eligible for parole after hearing victim statements, evidence and each side’s summary of the case.

Gray sat at a table in the courtroom with his feet chained together next to his attorney. Members of the community, including some victims and family members, were present in the courtroom.

Victim on Colt Gray: ‘Those decisions were his and his alone’

Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son Mason was killed, told the judge she does not forgive Colt Gray. She said that while adults around him missed multiple warning signs, he was the one who decided to bring a gun to school and to pull the trigger.

“Those decisions were his and his alone,” she said.

She described her son as someone who “made people that were typically unseen feel seen, accepted and safe” and said she was confident he would have befriended Colt Gray if he’d had the chance.

“Mason deserved a future and we all deserved a future with Mason in it, and Colt took that from Mason and everyone who loved him,” she said. She and two of Mason’s sisters asked the judge for a sentence of life without parole.

Shayna Aspinwall, Richard Aspinwall’s wife, told the judge the “grief of losing him is constant” and lamented that the lives of their daughters, who were 2 and 5 when their father died, will be “forever marked by his absence.”

“It is a life sentence of grief and trauma for those left behind,” she said. She asked the judge to sentence Colt Gray to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying she didn’t want herself and her daughters to have to endure multiple parole hearings.

A teenage student who was shot recalled that day, telling the judge she remembered feeling “really scared and confused because I saw Colt standing in the door with a gun.” The Associated Press is not identifying the girl, who is a minor.

She said she realized she had been shot and turned to a friend, asking him to hold her hand. She asked other friends to call her brother to let him know she’d been shot and didn’t know if she’d make it. She had trouble staying awake and regained consciousness in a helicopter on the way to a hospital in Atlanta. She had multiple surgeries and wasn’t able to walk for about a year.

“After the shooting I struggled with so much anxiety, and I felt like my life was over,” she said. She also asked the judge for a sentence of life without parole.

Apalachee High School Principal Jessica Rehberg said in court that Colt Gray’s “cruel actions” deserve “the harshest consequences.”

Gray’s defense attorney wrote in a court filing that he plans to call a psychologist, a counselor at the juvenile detention center where he has been held and his grandmother to testify.

Investigators say Colt Gray carefully plotted the shooting

Investigators have previously testified that the teenager carried the rifle onto the school bus with the barrel wrapped in a poster board. They said he left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the rifle, shooting people in a classroom and hallway.

They have said Colt Gray carefully plotted the shooting at the high school of 1,900 students.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified at an earlier hearing that the teen left a notebook in his classroom with step-by-step instructions and a diagram to prepare for the assault, including an estimate that he could kill as many as 26 people and wound as many as 13 others.

Sheriff’s deputies interviewed Colt and Colin Gray in May 2023 about an online threat linked to the son. Colt Gray denied making the threat. He skipped eighth grade, enrolled as a freshman at Apalachee after the academic year had begun and then had a spotty attendance record.

Investigators found a shrine in Colt Gray’s bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.

An investigator testified during Colin Gray’s trial that he had been aware that his son’s mental health had deteriorated and sought help from a counseling service weeks before the shooting, citing anger, anxiety and volatility. But the father never followed through on getting help for his son, the investigator said.

His mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators she had urged him weeks before the shooting to secure his guns and restrict their son’s access to them. Instead, over time, Colin Gray bought the boy ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories, records show.

AP

The post Teen pleads guilty to murder in a 2024 shooting that left 4 dead at Georgia’s Apalachee High School appeared first on Inside Education..

By Charmaine Ndlela

West Coast TVET College has launched a Campus Community Safety Forum aimed at preventing crime, tackling gender-based violence and strengthening cooperation between students, police, college management and surrounding communities.

The two-day launch at the college’s Vredenburg campus brought together the South African Police Service (SAPS), Department of Higher Education and Training, college management, student leaders and community stakeholders.

The second day of the launch, held on Friday, included the formalisation of a multi-stakeholder pledge to improve campus safety through collaboration, prevention and shared accountability.

The pledge commits all stakeholders to maintaining a safe and secure environment for students and staff, acting with integrity and vigilance, complying with campus safety procedures, supporting crime prevention initiatives and fostering an inclusive environment where students can thrive academically and personally.

It also places a strong emphasis on tackling gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), in line with South Africa’s National Strategic Plan on GBVF and the government’s call for a coordinated, society-wide response to the crisis.

Delivering the keynote address, Acting Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape Major General Luyanda Damoyi said the forum represented a collective commitment to protecting young people and ensuring that campuses remained spaces where students could pursue their education without fear.

“What makes today significant is that it brings together people from different sectors who all share a common goal – creating an environment where students can focus on their studies, pursue their ambitions and realise their potential without having to worry about their safety,” he said.

Damoyi said college campuses should be places where lifelong friendships were built, careers began and dreams took shape, adding that students deserved to feel protected, respected and supported throughout their academic journeys.

He acknowledged that institutions of higher learning continued to face many of the same challenges affecting communities across the country, including theft, violence, substance abuse and other criminal activities.

“As the South African Police Service, we have a constitutional responsibility to create a safe and secure environment for all who live in our country. We know, however, that safety cannot be achieved through policing alone. The most effective crime prevention happens when communities, institutions and law enforcement work together,” Damoyi said.

He described the forum as a proactive intervention focused on preventing crime before it occurred by identifying risks early, strengthening partnerships and developing practical solutions.

Addressing students directly, Damoyi encouraged them to play an active role in building a safer campus culture by reporting criminal activity, supporting one another and making responsible decisions.

“No safety structure can succeed without the involvement of those it is intended to serve. We need you to become active participants in creating a safer campus environment,” he said.

The launch also featured a SAPS career exhibition showcasing opportunities in forensic science, investigations, technology, communications, administration and community engagement.

Damoyi said the forum’s success would not be measured by its launch, but by the impact it delivered in the months and years ahead.

“It will be reflected in stronger partnerships, safer campuses, improved communication and meaningful interventions that benefit students and staff alike,” he said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post West Coast TVET launches joint safety forum to tackle campus crime and GBVF appeared first on Inside Education..

By Charmaine Ndlela

South Africa will expand the way it measures the performance of schools and education districts, placing greater emphasis on learner retention, Bachelor passes, distinctions and participation in key subjects rather than relying primarily on the matric pass rate, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said on Friday.

Speaking in Johannesburg ahead of the 12th National Education Excellence Awards ceremony, Gwarube said the expanded approach would be applied from the 2026 National Senior Certificate results onwards.

The assessment will also consider support for learners with disabilities and progress in foundational learning, as the Department of Basic Education shifts its focus towards the quality and sustainability of educational outcomes.

“The matric pass rate remains important, but the future of our country will not be determined only by how many learners pass matric,” Gwarube said.

Her remarks came before the department was due to honour South Africa’s top-performing and most-improved education districts, schools and officials at the awards ceremony, held under the theme “Strong Foundations, Strong Futures”.

“These awards recognise people who have gone beyond meeting targets. They recognise leadership that has strengthened schools, supported teachers and changed the educational prospects of learners,” she said.

The minister said every finalist represented years of disciplined work that often went unnoticed and pointed to the performance of the Class of 2025 as evidence of progress across the education system.

South Africa recorded a national matric pass rate of 88% in 2025, the highest since the advent of democracy.

“For the first time in our democratic history, all 75 education districts achieved a matric pass rate above 80%,” Gwarube said.

“It shows that improvement is no longer limited to a small number of historically strong districts.”

However, she cautioned that pass rates could not be viewed in isolation when assessing the quality of education.

Learner retention, infrastructure, teacher support, performance in individual subjects and persistent inequalities remained significant challenges requiring sustained intervention, she said.

Gwarube said the department was consequently placing greater emphasis on strengthening early learning, particularly literacy and numeracy in the foundational grades.

More than 13,300 Early Childhood Development centres had been registered, exceeding the department’s 2025 target and expanding access to early learning services for more than 1.2 million children.

The department is also implementing compulsory Grade R and plans to train 10,000 Foundation Phase teachers in literacy and numeracy during 2026.

Other interventions include strengthening structured learning programmes, expanding literacy support in African languages and improving the delivery of quality learning and teaching support materials.

Gwarube said education districts would be central to implementing the reforms, with district directors responsible for translating national policies into improved teaching and learning in classrooms.

“The awards we present tonight recognise excellence. But they also remind us that excellence carries responsibility,” she said.

She encouraged successful districts and schools to share their methods and lessons with institutions facing greater challenges, arguing that improvements should be extended across the education system rather than remaining concentrated in high-performing areas.

The department also unveiled a partnership with Canva for Education that will give teachers and learners free access to the platform’s educational tools.

Canva Africa Lead Bianca Sibiya said the partnership would provide educators with digital resources, practical training and continued support.

“We are partnering specifically to invest in teachers and students by providing free access to powerful teaching tools, practical training and ongoing support to prepare classrooms for the future,” she said.

Sibiya said visual and interactive learning could help learners understand and retain information, while digital tools could reduce the amount of time teachers spend preparing lessons and educational materials.

The platform allows educators to create presentations, lesson plans, worksheets, videos, assessments and collaborative classroom activities.

It also includes offline functionality intended to support schools in communities where internet connectivity is limited.

Sibiya said Canva’s artificial intelligence features were designed to support educators rather than replace their role in the classroom.

“AI should never replace teachers. Canva’s AI tools help teachers save time on lesson preparation and resource creation so they can spend more time with learners,” she said.

Learners could also use the platform to create digital portfolios, develop creative and communication skills and prepare for further study, entrepreneurship and employment in the digital economy, she added.

According to Canva, its platform is used each month by more than 140 million teachers and students across 700,000 schools in more than 190 countries.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post Education excellence awards: Gwarube says matric performance will be measured beyond pass rate appeared first on Inside Education..

By Lebone Rodah Mosima

The Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) has appointed Kedibone Moroane-Nkhobo as its new chief executive officer, saying the appointment comes as it seeks to strengthen skills development and stakeholder partnerships in the energy and water sectors.

EWSETA said that Moroane-Nkhobo brings extensive executive leadership experience in the post-school education and training sector, particularly in research, skills planning and strategic management.

ALSO READ: SRCs demand end to R52,000 NSFAS accommodation cap as student debt mounts

“Kedibone brings more than 18 years of experience across the mining and chemical manufacturing sectors, including over a decade in executive leadership,” the organisation said.

“Her expertise spans organisational strategy, governance, institutional transformation and stakeholder collaboration. She also played a leading role in advancing South Africa’s green hydrogen ecosystem, including the establishment of Green Hydrogen Centres of Specialisation.”

“She holds an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public and Development Management.”

EWSETA said it was confident Moroane-Nkhobo’s knowledge, leadership and collaborative approach would strengthen the authority’s contribution to the sector and the communities it serves.

ALSO READ: Applications open for €15,000 Herman Mashaba scholarship in Austria

EWSETA board chairperson Morwesi Ramonyai-Thonga also expressed the board’s appreciation to Robyn Vilakazi for her leadership as acting chief executive officer.

“Her stewardship, commitment and dedication have ensured continuity, organisational stability and continued delivery during this important transition,” Ramonyai-Thonga said in a statement.

“The Board remains committed to building on the strong foundation established through the collective efforts of our employees, stakeholders and partners. We look forward to working closely with Kedibone Moroane-Nkhobo as we continue to advance our shared vision of a skilled, capable and inclusive workforce that supports sustainable economic growth.”

Ramonyai-Thonga said EWSETA’s organisational values of Respect, Integrity, Teaming and Excellence, known as RITE, would continue to guide its work and relationships with those it serves.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post EWSETA appoints Kedibone Moroane-Nkhobo as new chief executive appeared first on Inside Education..

By Lebone Rodah Mosima

The country’s best-performing and most-improved education districts and schools will be recognised at the 12th National Education Excellence Awards in Sandton on Friday, the Department of Basic Education said.

The awards, held under the theme “Strong Foundations, Strong Futures”, will recognise performance in the 2025 National Senior Certificate examinations, improvements in learning outcomes, district leadership and the maintenance of school facilities.

The event will be held at the NH Hotel Johannesburg in Sandton from 08:30 in partnership with Canva.

ALSO READ: EWSETA appoints Kedibone Moroane-Nkhobo as new chief executive

“Education Districts are the glue that holds the entire basic education ecosystem together,” the department said, adding that districts work with provincial education departments to improve the functioning of schools across the country.

Candidates are drawn from districts in all nine provinces.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, Deputy Minister Reginah Mhaule and Director-General Mathanzima Mweli are expected to present the awards alongside the department’s partners. The event will conclude with the presentation of a Special Ministerial Award.

District awards will include separate categories for the top-performing district serving up to 400 schools and the top-performing district serving more than 400 schools, based on their overall pass rates in the 2025 NSC examinations.

Other district categories will recognise the most improved district, the district that produced the highest number of bachelor passes and districts that recorded the strongest balance between participation and achievement in Accounting, Mathematics and Physical Science.

ALSO READ: SRCs demand end to R52,000 NSFAS accommodation cap as student debt mounts

Awards will also be presented for excellence in district leadership and management and for support provided to improve learning outcomes in primary schools.

School categories include the top-performing public ordinary school in each of the five school quintiles, based on Quality Performance Indicators applied to the 2025 NSC results.

The department will also recognise the top-performing full-service school and primary and secondary schools that have demonstrated excellence in the upkeep and maintenance of their facilities.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post DBE to honour top-performing districts and schools at national awards appeared first on Inside Education..

By Thapelo Molefe

Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has warned Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) that poor governance, misuse of public funds and resistance to oversight will not be tolerated, saying institutions that undermine public trust will face consequences.

Delivering the keynote address at the induction of newly appointed SETA Accounting Authorities and chief executive officers in Boksburg on Thursday, Manamela said the skills development system was entering a period of reform aimed at improving governance, accountability and performance.

He told the newly appointed boards and executives that their appointments carried significant public responsibility because SETAs controlled substantial public resources and played a key role in developing the country’s workforce.

“Your appointment is not an administrative honour. It is a public duty,” Manamela said.

“You have been entrusted with institutions that control substantial public resources, that shape the future of entire industries, and that touch the lives of millions – workers, unemployed young people, students, employers and communities.”

The minister said South Africa could not afford “another season of institutional drift, weak governance, and programmes that consume public money without producing public value.”

He said the department was implementing a broader “Skills Revolution” that would shift the focus from measuring activity to measuring outcomes such as employment, productivity and economic development.

“The Skills Revolution is not a slogan. It is a programme to reorganise the skills system around the developmental needs of the country,” he said.

Manamela stressed that SETAs should no longer see themselves as grant-disbursing agencies or procurement centres but as strategic institutions responsible for identifying skills shortages, supporting workplace learning and responding to changing labour market needs.

He also warned Accounting Authorities and executive management against governance failures, saying board members should not interfere in operational matters or use their positions to pursue personal interests.

“Board members must not use their seats to chase contracts, appointments, or the interests of those who nominated them,” he said.

“Chief Executives must not treat their boards as ceremonial.”

The minister said several SETAs had required intervention in recent years because of governance failures and investigations involving bodies such as the Special Investigating Unit, the Public Protector and the National Skills Authority.

He announced that cooperation with the National Skills Authority (NSA) would become mandatory, warning that delays, incomplete disclosure and obstruction of oversight would no longer be accepted.

“We will not tolerate delayed documents. We will not tolerate selective disclosure. We will not tolerate correspondence that goes unanswered,” Manamela said.

“Delay is not cooperation. Partial cooperation is not cooperation. And respect for lawful oversight is not optional.”

Manamela said government would support institutions that demonstrated improvement but would act against those guilty of persistent non-performance or misuse of public resources.

“Where there is obstruction, concealment, persistent non-performance, the misuse of public resources, or defiance of lawful oversight – there will be consequences,” he said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post Manamela demands stronger governance and accountability from SETAs appeared first on Inside Education..

By Dumisani Tshabalala

Every World Youth Skills Day, South Africa performs the same ritual. We speak solemnly about the skills crisis and reach for a familiar list: electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics and technicians. The concern is justified.

According to the Department of Higher Education and Training, South Africa produced 19,536 qualified artisans in 2022/23, while the National Development Plan sets a target of 30,000 qualified artisans annually by 2030. The shortage of qualified tradespeople is a brake on development. But we make a serious mistake when we allow the artisan shortage to define the entire conversation about skills.

An artisan is an occupation; a skill is a human capability. By confusing the two, we have reduced skills development to a pathway for some young people, rather than recognising it as the purpose of education for every young person. This misunderstanding is reinforced by the false divide between academic and vocational education. Schools, we imply, develop knowledge; colleges develop skills. One pathway is supposedly for thinking and the other for doing. Real life does not work that way.

A good electrician does not merely connect wires; they interpret a system, diagnose a fault and adapt when the problem changes. A good historian does not merely remember dates; they evaluate evidence, identify bias and construct an argument. Both are thinking, both are doing and both are skilled. The distinction that matters is not between knowledge and skills, but between knowledge that remains inert and knowledge that can be used.

Training grounds

School subjects should be understood as training grounds for human capability. Geometry develops spatial reasoning and disciplined argument; history teaches learners to reason from evidence and geography develops systems thinking. Languages develop interpretation, persuasion and clarity, while mathematical literacy strengthens numerical judgment. The question every teacher should answer is not only, “What content am I covering?” It is also, “What capability is this lesson developing?”

A learner who can repeat a method has not necessarily learnt to adapt it when the problem changes. Likewise, a high mark is not always proof that knowledge can travel beyond the examination paper. Artificial intelligence has made this distinction impossible to ignore. A machine can now produce an essay, summarise a report, generate code, analyse a spreadsheet and offer a plausible answer within seconds. Information is becoming abundant. Answers are becoming cheap. Judgment is not.

The educational response cannot be to race machines in producing first drafts, or to add coding lessons to an already crowded curriculum and declare learners future ready. Coding matters, but its deepest value is not the syntax of one programming language, which may change or be automated. Its enduring value lies in computational thinking: abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition, logic and breaking a large problem into solvable parts.

The same is true of prompting, often described as a new technical skill. A prompt is reasoning made visible. To ask a powerful question, a learner must understand the problem, define the context, choose precise language, recognise assumptions and judge whether the answer is credible. Artificial intelligence does not remove the need for knowledge. It exposes the weakness of knowledge that has never been converted into judgment.

Giving every learner access to an AI platform will not transform education, just as giving every learner a calculator did not create mathematical understanding. A tool magnifies the capability of its user. Where reasoning is strong, it can extend possibility; where reasoning is weak, it can produce confident error at remarkable speed. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, employers increasingly prioritise analytical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication and lifelong learning as work becomes more complex and technology driven. Technical requirements will keep changing, but these human capabilities will determine who moves with that change.

Diagnose rather than guess

South Africa needs more artisans, but it must also understand why outstanding artisans are outstanding. They diagnose rather than guess, work precisely, solve unfamiliar problems, communicate and take responsibility for their decisions. Those are not merely vocational qualities. They are equally necessary in an engineer, entrepreneur, researcher, nurse, teacher or software developer.

World Youth Skills Day should force us to ask a harder question than how many young people we are training for a particular occupation: are our classrooms deliberately developing people who can use knowledge when the script disappears?

That requires assessments that reward reasoning and application; teacher development that connects subject content to capability; stronger movement between academic, technical and vocational pathways; and classrooms in which curiosity, experimentation and revision are treated as serious intellectual work. South Africa’s skills crisis will not be solved by choosing vocational education over academic education, or by adding technology to unchanged teaching. It will be solved when we stop treating knowledge and skills as rivals. Knowledge is the raw material; skill is the ability to turn it into judgment, action, and value.

Artificial intelligence has not changed the purpose of education. It has stripped away our excuses for misunderstanding it. The nations that shape the future will not necessarily be those whose learners can recall the most information. They will be those whose young people can question it, connect it, test it and use it to solve problems that have not even been defined.

The question for South Africa is whether we will educate that generation or merely train it to consume what somebody else has built.

Dumisani Tshabalala is the Head of Academics at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post OPINION| World Skills Youth Day: SA has misunderstood what skills are appeared first on Inside Education..