GAUTENG Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says he is delighted that an 11-year-old girl learner, who was kidnapped last year, has returned home safely.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Gauteng Department of Education said the grade 5 learner’s mother received a call from the police this morning informing her to fetch the child at the police station.

The learner from E. P. Baumann Primary School in Mayfair was kidnapped at gunpoint by three males in a Toyota Yaris with the registration number JS 62 CS GP on the morning of 17 November 2021.

The incident took place outside the school gate while she was waiting in line to be sanitized and screened.

Lesufi said he was delighted to receive the good news of the safe return of the learner.

“We will avail our Psycho-Social Unit to provide additional counselling to her, given the trauma she has faced during this unfortunate incident,” Lesufi said.

A SNAPSHOT of the World Bank’s current portfolio in tertiary education shows that Africa has been receiving the biggest slice, US$3.8 billion, of a total of about US$9.8 billion that is being invested in the sector globally.

This figure is expected to grow, said Dr Roberta Bassett, the World Bank’s global lead for tertiary education.

Her presentation, ‘Tertiary education in Sub-Saharan Africa in the time of COVID-19’ was part of the African Network for Internationalization of Education’s conference on 25 November. The event focused on regional and global cooperation in higher education and adaptive strategies for the future of Africa’s higher education post-COVID.

The World Bank invested about US$3.8 billion in Africa, followed by US$2.341 million in South Asia, US$1.604 billion in Latin America and the Caribbean, US$894 million in East Asia, US$855 million in Europe and Central Asia and US$199 million in the Middle East and North Africa respectively, making Africa the biggest beneficiary. The total operational financing available to tertiary education during 2015-20 was approximately US$9.8 billion.

Despite the investments by the World Bank, other funders and governments that are spending, on average, about 21% of their budgets on tertiary education (compared to 43% on primary and 27% on secondary education) the current gross tertiary enrolment ratio in Sub-Saharan Africa stands at 9.4%, the lowest in the world.

“Even though Sub-Saharan Africa has been doubling its enrolment every 20 years, [during] the past 45 years, the gap has been growing, something [that is] of significant concern for those of us who support investment in tertiary education,” Bassett said.

In the context of COVID-19 and returning to normalcy and adaptability to learning, Bassett noted that African tertiary institutions have quickly returned to operations in comparison with other parts of the world.

Said Bassett: “We put out lots of money to support COVID-19 responses across all levels of education, supporting remote learning, building capacity in institutions to accelerate training, especially for the medical technicians, that were [involved] in cross-border interventions at the World Bank level.

“We are moving into the resilient phase, supporting countries to help students return to universities physically, and we connected students more, thinking about labour market outcomes, because we know there are financial shortcomings to support the social protection element of students’ experience,” she added.

Her presentation highlighted that, during COVID’s remote learning phase, only 0.44% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had access to fixed broadband and 25% to the internet. However, 97% of tertiary students have access to mobile phones, suggesting they could be harnessed more to expand learning platforms and apps.

She said that the pandemic crisis highlighted opportunities for higher learning, for instance, re-thinking internationalisation to expand awareness and opportunities beyond study and academic exchanges abroad through cross-border online delivery, learning from and partnering with peer nations, recognising regional students and exchanges as international and bringing international concepts and perspectives into local curricula.

She added that embedding international and regional ideas into the curricula, even if the mobility is not in place, is important to enhance internationalisation.

Transformation and internationalisation

On transformation and the future of internationalisation of higher education in Africa, Professor Olusola Oyewole, the secretary general of the Association of African Universities, emphasised the smart university concept, saying that change is imperative, hence the need for new thinking on how universities operate.

“The smart university concept involves technological advances for the effective management, administration and delivery of the main functions and services of the university. The concept of the smart university is an emerging and fast-evolving area that represents the creative integration of innovative concepts using smart software and hardware systems,” he said.

Components of smart universities, he added, include university stakeholders, curricula, pedagogy, software and hardware, technologies, resources, libraries, security and infrastructure.

Oyewole added that African universities ought to embrace the smart university concept as it has various benefits, including enhanced student learning experiences and campus safety, reduction in operation costs, support in data-based decisions, promotion of efficiency, flexibility for learners, advances for university reputation, and it helps with the promotion of internationalisation and knowledge mobility.

Smart universities can, therefore, advance internationalisation, which help to create world-class institutions that attract foreign students and staff into higher education systems for cross-cultural education.

Developments that would foster internationalisation are virtual learning across borders, which could be enhanced by the smart university concept, but also through universities with common values, diaspora involvement, and virtual supervision.

To foster internationalisation in the pandemic period, African universities need to install programmes like instant student exchanges abroad and also embrace staff mobility programmes for lecturers through partnerships and networks, both virtual and institutional, he suggested.

THE South African Local Government Association has sent its condolences following the death of Emalahleni Local Municipality Mayor, Linah Malatjie.

The mayor and her husband passed away in hospital following a head-on collision. The accident happened along the R544 road between Gemsbokspruit and Verena in Mpumalanga.

A teacher by profession, Malatjie cut her political teeth in the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union and Congress of SA Trade Unions, and the ANC.

“The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) expresses its sorrow and condolences for the death of Emalahleni Local Municipality Mayor, Councillor Linah Malatjie and her husband, Esau Malatjie, who passed away in a car crash on Monday morning, 3 January 2022,” it said in a statement.

SALGA said the mayor, who was re-elected as the Mayor of Emalahleni Municipality in Mpumalanga following the 1 November 2021 local government elections, made an indelible contribution not only to the communities she served in the municipality but also to the local government sector at large. 

“Serving as a member of the SALGA Mpumalanga provincial executive committee (PEC), Mayor Malatjie was an amazing and inspirational leader. Thanks to her rigour, professionalism and immense body of knowledge about local government affairs, which she generously shared, the organisation, municipality and the broader municipal government sector benefited considerably from this, and her passing is a profound loss.”

Malatjie, said the association, will be remembered as a strong and committed leader with a clear vision for Emalahleni, who always kept her door open to her colleagues and local government stakeholders. 

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula earlier conveyed his condolences  saying he had learnt of her passing with sadness.

“This is yet another tragic passing of South Africans on our roads since the start of the festive season,” he said.

SCHOOLS in England returning this week after the Christmas holidays will see students wearing face masks until the end of the month, it was announced on Sunday.

The department for education said the advice was “short-term only to support pupils and teachers as they return to schools this term” and would remain in place until 26 January.

Rules for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are set by the devolved governments.

The government is also drawing up contingency plans over fears a quarter of public sector workers could be absent due to the Omicron wave.

Masks will “maximise the number of children in school” for the “maximum amount of time”, said the government, stressing the “temporary” guidance for schools and colleges will be reviewed on 26 January when Plan B regulations are scheduled to expire.

However, senior figures in the education sector are warning that classes and year groups may again have to learn from home due to issues with staffing levels caused by the pandemic.

The government has said an additional 7,000 air cleaning units are going to be provided to schools, colleges and early years settings ahead of young people returning from the Christmas holidays.

But the NEU teaching union has criticised the number of units as “completely inadequate”.

Paul Whiteman, the head of school leaders’ union NAHT, welcomed the moves over masks and air filtration systems, and said “the best place for children to learn is in school”.

“We need to do everything possible to ensure face-to-face teaching continues, despite increasing infection rates due to the new variant,” he said.

Face coverings are already encouraged for secondary school and older students in communal areas and corridors, but the existing guidance does not advise to wear them in classrooms.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “If the choice is between having masks at schools or children missing schools in huge numbers, of course we want to keep pupils learning. That’s got to be the priority.

“Pupils should be testing twice a week. There’s lots of evidence to suggest that hasn’t been happening properly. So the message for Government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week.”

Robert Halfon, conservative MP and chairman of the House of Commons Education Select Committee said: “What I’d like the Government to do is set out why they’re doing this, set out the evidence in the House of Commons… I do worry masks in schools will have a negative impact.”

Geoff Barton, the head of the Association of School and College Leaders, also supported the latest moves.

He said: “While there are obvious drawbacks to the use of face coverings in classrooms, it is clear that the Omicron variant poses a very significant additional risk to education with the potential for further widespread disruption of schools, colleges, and young people.”

And he warned that as staffing levels were disrupted by the surge in cases, some classes and year groups could be forced to learn from home again.

“All of this is a recognition by the government that the spring term will be extremely challenging for schools and colleges,” he added.

What is Plan B?

https://interactive.news.sky.com/2020/covid-19-coronavirus/uk-cases-avg/index.html The government said that on top of a break from Ofsted inspections in the first week of term – which had already been announced – schools are being encouraged to ask for a deferral if they are “significantly impacted by COVID-related staff absence”.

It comes as six trade unions for education workers have urged the government to offer improved financial support for schools and colleges to help cover the costs of supply staff.

Also, there has been a nationwide shortage of lateral flow and PCR tests in the UK over recent weeks and schools are being asked to test pupils when they return after the Christmas break.

But a spokesperson for the Department for Education told Sky News that the shortage in lateral flow tests for delivery on the government’s portal will not impact tests being provided to schools.

“Schools and colleges use a different priority supply route to get their lateral flow tests,” they explained.

“Most test kits have already been received for the start of the new term and we have arrangements in place to make sure every school has the testing it needs.”

FRENCH Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Monday that in response to a rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the government was narrowing the delay for a third booster shot to three months from four, but there would be no curfew for New Year’s Eve.

Castex also said France’s health pass for access to restaurants, cinemas and more would become a “vaccine pass” from January 15, if the draft bill is approved by parliament as expected.

This would mean that “in places where the pass is required, you must prove that you are vaccinated to be able to enter – a negative test result will no longer be accepted”, he said.

Among additional measures, from Monday and for the next three weeks, all public gatherings will be limited to 2,000 people for indoor events and to 5,000 people for outdoor events. Spectators at concerts will all have to be seated.

Consumption of drinks and food will be banned in long-distance transport and cinemas, and home working will become mandatory for at least three days per week where possible.Mask-wearing will be mandatory in town centres, with local authorities in charge of enforcing the measure, and in bars and restaurants only seated customers will be able to consume food and drinks.

New rules for isolation periods after a positive Covid-19 test result or for contact cases will be announced at the end of the week. Castex said these were necessary due to the unique “characteristics of Omicron” compared to other variants.

However, there will be no changes to the school calendar. Students will return to school as previously planned, on January 3.

The new measures come as officials have warned that hospitals in France again risk being overwhelmed after a record 100,000 cases were reported Saturday, the highest daily level in France since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.

Figures from Monday show more than 3,300 people are currently in intensive care, above the crisis threshold of 3,000 set by authorities.

The prime minister said the Covid incidence rate – the number of infections per 100,000 people per week – is now well over 700 and at a record level since the start of the pandemic, forcing his cabinet to take the new measures.

While he appealed for people to get booster shots, he also praised France’s 78 percent vaccination rate overall. The government says this figure represents 90 percent of those eligible – currently everyone older than five.

“I know that it feels like a film without ending, but a year ago we started our vaccination campaign and now we are one of the best vaccinated and best protected people in the world,” he said.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

THE Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has called on the National Prosecuting Authority to take swift action against any perpetrators of statutory rape.

This as the Basic Education Department introduced a policy that will compel schools to report the impregnation of learners, younger than 16 years, by older men to the police.

The policy will come into effect in January 2022.

“The Commission has repeatedly called for the law to be applied to curb the growing scourge of statutory rape in South Africa, which has seen thousands of underage girls, some as young as 10 years, drop out of school due to early pregnancy.

“The Commission has confidence that the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will play their part to ensure that every case of statutory rape is thoroughly investigated and successfully prosecuted,” it said in a statement.

The CGE called on community members to report any inappropriate relationships between children and adults.

“The Commission is also aware that the issue of teenage pregnancy is multi-sectoral and calls all role players and citizenry to be vigilant and report any relationship between an adult and a minor as part of the child protection initiative.”

The commission said with the holiday season upon the country, more vigilance is needed to curb any form of abuse.

“As citizens celebrate the festive holiday season, more women and young girls may fall victim to sexual and gender-based violence. The Commission calls for families and communities to report any incidents of abuse to the nearest police station.”

* SA News

ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Desmond Tutu had a history of teaching in his blood and served as the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) chancellor for 25 years, during South Africa’s turbulent apartheid-era.

Tutu, who was South Africa’s last living Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, became UWC’s chancellor in 1987 and served in that role for 25 years as South Africa formally ushered in the country’s dawn of democracy.

“We are working for a new South Africa and we are committed to non-violence,” UWC reveals he said during his acceptance speech as chancellor.

“The University of the Western Cape is a first fruit, a promise of what that new South Africa could be like. Let us go for it!” Tutu went on to say.

Professor Tyrone Pretorius, UWC rector and vice-chancellor, said: “His service as chancellor for the University of the Western Cape over an unprecedented 25 years, helped to build the foundation of what we are today.”

“We’ve gone from a Bush College to an engaged research-led, learning and teaching university that is ranked among the world’s finest – and we couldn’t have done it without Desmond Tutu’s leadership, and his inspiring example,” Pretorius said.

WITH just a few hours before the completion of marking of the 2021 matric exams on Wednesday, basic education minister Angie Motshekga has assured the country that the process was going very well despite a few and minor hiccups in Limpopo and the Free State provinces this week.

In an interview with Inside Education on Monday, Motshekga said despite interruptions in Limpopo and the Free State, the marking of matric exams would be  successfully completed on Wednesday – and the capturing of marks would be in progress shortly afterwards.

This after Limpopo Department of Education sent 23 matric exam markers home this week after they tested positive for COVID-19.

At least 13 of them were based at Northern Academy Secondary School marking centre in Polokwane.

In the Free State, markers saved and recovered exam scripts after a storm hit Albert Moroka High School, damaging some of the papers.

The process of marking was underway during the storm, leading to a loss of some documents.

Motshekga said no scripts for Accounting Paper 2 were severely damaged, and all scripts could be accounted for.

“We were initially concerned about the storm in the Free State but we received a report on Monday that assured us all exam scripts were recovered and teachers were able to account for all the papers,” Motshekga told Inside Education on Monday.  

“Between Christmas and New Year, the department will be mopping up and ensuring all papers and year marks are reconciled.”

Motshekga added that while several markers tested positive for COVID-19 in Limpopo Province, the department was consoled by the fact that more than 80% of teachers in South Africa were vaccinated.

The class of 2021 concluded their final matric examinations on 7 December, having started in October.

Motshekga confirmed that the matric exam results would be announced on 20 January 2022, while provinces would then release the results the next day on 21 January.

Last month, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) confirmed that more than 40,000 markers would handle the marking of the NSC exams.

The markers are expected to finish marking by 22 December this year.

The marking is set to be captured on 27 December while Umalusi standardisation is expected to take place by 6 January. 

The education quality assurance council needs to declare that the exams and the marking processes are up to standard in order for the NSC exam results to be released.

Here’s how you can get your matric results

NSC results

To obtain a NSC one must achieve 40% in three subjects, one of which is an official language at Home Language level and 30% in three subjects.

Matriculants can get their official statement of results from the school, exam centre where they wrote their exams or online through the DBE‘s website.

Step 1: Visit the Department of Basic Education website.Step 2: Register using your details.Step 3: Click on the link for 2021 NSC exam results. Step 4: Enter your examination number. Step 5: Your results will appear on the screen. Step 6: Click the download button and print. 

IEB results

Independent Examinations Board (IEB) pupils will see their results go public on 19 January 2022. The IEB sets and marks the final exams for most of the country’s private and independent schools.

IEB results can be obtained in the following ways:

You can obtain your official certificate of results from your school as of 19 January.Pupils will be able to find their results online using the IEB website when they are released. Results can also be accessed via SMS (If the IEB has been provided with your cellphone number, your results will automatically be sent to the number provided or you can register by SMS by sending a message to 35135).

Bursaries are available from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) for any course of study.

Pupils can contact via email or visit their website.

* Inside Education

WITH close to 900,000 matric students having completed their final exams, it is vital for them to start planning for their future. As with any career, students need to bear in mind how likely it is that they will be employed after completing their studies and whether traditional university is the right path for them.

This is according to Riaz Moola, CEO at tech education company HyperionDev, who said that thanks to the rapid digitisation of almost all aspects of our lives, tech-based careers offer the students of today lucrative opportunities for tomorrow.

“Currently there is a skills gap in the technology sector in South Africa, which is reflected in research by PWC which reveals that 87% of local CEOs are most concerned about this shortage.”

As the school year draws to a close, many matriculants are wondering what to study next year. Moola lists his top five tech careers for matriculants to consider pursuing studying for in 2022:

1. Java Developer

Average annual salary according to Payscale: R375,315

A Java developer uses the Java language to create high-functioning web applications, software and programs. Java developers have long enjoyed high-ranking status, rated as the number one job of 2021 by the global recruitment website Glassdoor.

“Java is still one of the most popular programming languages in the world, reflecting both the growing demand for experienced Java programmers and the ubiquity of companies using Java for all kinds of tech applications,” said Moola.

The roles and responsibilities of a Java developer will vary greatly depending on the company and specific position, he said.

Typical responsibilities include: Designing, implementing, and maintaining Java applications that are often high-volume and low-latency, required for mission-critical systems, delivering high availability and performance, contributing in all phases of the development lifecycle, writing well-designed, efficient, and testable code to name but a few.

2. Software Engineer

Average annual salary according to Payscale: R371,699

Software engineers are generalised developers, making all kinds of software to suit a business’s needs. “They have always enjoyed incredible pay, boundless career opportunities and solid job security,” said Moola. “Software engineers are highly agile, thanks to their transferable skills and deep knowledge of one or more programming languages.”

Some of the responsibilities of a software engineer include: analyse user requirements, writing and testing code, refining and rewriting it as necessary, and communicating with any programmers involved in the project.

They will research, design, and write new software programs (e.g. business applications or computer games) and computer operating systems, evaluate the software and systems that make computers and hardware work, and develop existing programs by analysing and identifying areas for modification.

3. Data Scientist / Data Engineer

Average annual salary according to Payscale: from R428,554 to R449,030

“Data is the internet’s new gold rush, which is why companies want to understand their core data and key customer insights to unlock more efficient systems and bigger profits,” said Moola. “Data scientists and data engineers are the answer to that better business.”

There are more similarities than differences between data scientists and data engineers, he points out. “A data scientist uses data analysis tools to manage, analyse, understand and draw conclusions from complex data. Data engineers, on the other hand, are responsible for the setting up, maintenance and management of data systems.

“They don’t just know how to work with data, but also understand the systems and processes that this large-scale analysis requires and how to work with these technologies. These two roles share the number three spot due to their international demand and high job security,” said Moola.

A data scientist’s role combines computer science, statistics, and mathematics. They analyze, process, and model data, then interpret the results to create actionable plans for companies and other organisations.

4. Enterprise Architect

Average annual salary according to Payscale: R867,986

The career of an enterprise architect is one of the best tech jobs in the world because of its combination of staggeringly high pay and huge job opportunities and security, said Moola.

“Enterprise architects typically occupy more senior positions and are responsible for making sure that a company’s business strategy uses the right technology systems to achieve its goals,” he said, adding that this highly technical role makes it a prized career.

An enterprise architect is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of an organisation’s IT networks and services. As an enterprise architect, you would be responsible for overseeing, improving and upgrading enterprise services, software and hardware, Moola said.

5. Full-stack Web Developer

Average annual salary according to SalaryExpert: R730,841

Full-stack developers have officially passed their single-stream counterparts – front-end and back-end developers-  to claim the fifth most desirable tech job in the world. “Full-stack developers work in both front-end and back-end development, building the visuals of websites and applications, as well as the nitty-gritty coding that allows them to work as intended,” said Moola.

“Full-stack developers are highly prized because of this dual specialisation and multi-role capability, making them highly in demand, both locally and internationally.”

A Full-stack Web Developer is responsible for the coding, design and layout of a website according to a company’s specifications. As the role takes into consideration user experience and function, a certain level of both graphic design and computer programming is necessary.

From student to job-ready in a matter of months 

Today, students can take advantage of online coding bootcamps which can be viewed as alternative credentials, said Moola.

“They are a fast-paced career accelerator that can quickly land participants a job as a software engineer or data scientist, rather than a traditional university degree which takes years to complete.

“We believe coding should be accessible to everyone, everywhere,” he said. “That’s why we’ve partnered with financial services institutions so that students can finance their coding bootcamp and start their coding journey as soon as possible.”

HOMEBOY Mthembu is a jewellery design and manufacturing student at Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) City campus.

When he isn’t juggling his demanding studies, he is working on his jewellery brand, BigHomie and Co, designing attractive pieces for his growing customer base in his rental studio.

He had ambitions of becoming an entrepreneur from a young age. And, preceding his studies, he was a tattoo artist.

“I was a tattoo artist, but it wasn’t a professional thing; I just had the skill,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to build a business. But I never understood the dynamics of building one.”

Fashion design student Diva Mobedi is no stranger to the business world. Her mother, a successful business owner and fashion designer inspired her idea to start a business.

“When I came to DUT I didn’t have a business, but I had an idea,” Mobedi said. “It was after I joined DUT’s entrepreneurship centre that I was groomed to open up a business.”

“I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps. Seeing her as an entrepreneur as well as a single mother inspired me. But the only difference is that she had to learn everything by herself, without any assistance. With me, there was extra help from the university,” Mobedi added.

Today, she is the proud founder of Fashion by Leelah, a modest female fashion brand that specialises in kimono apparel.

Mthembu and Mobedi are two of 50 students selected to participate in the pilot phase of an online entrepreneurship programme offering students a one-of-a-kind, interactive six-module course on the best practices of starting and managing a business.

“Over the course of six modules, students will explore what it means to be an entrepreneur, why entrepreneurship is integral to economic development and how to start and run their own business.

“They will have the opportunity to hear from like-minded entrepreneurial students in South Africa and Ireland who will present some of their insights and findings through each step of the programme,” the Technological Higher Education Network South Africa (THENSA) said in a statement announcing the programme.

The course was developed in partnership with Munster Technological University (MTU) in Ireland, THENSA and the Technology Innovation Agency in South Africa, with DUT as the implementing university through its entrepreneurship centre.

Firstly, the course’s ingenuity lies in the fact that it will be taught and administered on Telegram, a messaging app. Secondly, the approach to the content essentially opens up participants to a technique that encourages start-ups to treat their business ventures as scientific experiments.

Applying science to entrepreneurship

“The task that I was [given] was to contribute an alternative to travelling to Durban and doing a week-long course in a big meeting room,” said Dr Niall O’Leary, who is a research fellow at MTU’s Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence.

O’Leary’s role was to assign the content which entailed researching the best approach to the course, writing the course, narrating it on the platform as well as recording videos, among other tasks.

“We wanted to make the course accessible to participants who did not have a laptop and so this led to a view that it should be accessible on mobile and laptop. So our technical lead came up with the idea to use Telegram,” O’Leary said.

His strategy for the content of the course was informed by a 2020 randomised controlled study conducted on 116 early-stage start-ups in Italy, which found that training founders to think and act like scientists could help reduce the risk of sticking with business ideas that would ultimately fail.

“The basic concept of the [study] is that it’s not the ideas that are short. There are lots of entrepreneurship ideas, but the question is how you spend your time and money developing them,” O’Leary said.

“The innovative, scientific approach to assessing business models is about prioritising those finite resources. What we do in the course is that we [ask students to] develop a business model canvas – a succinct business plan.”

He said that, once the participants have completed their business model canvas, they are asked to decide what key factors would influence whether the business would be likely to succeed or not.

This allows start-ups to experiment, discover and learn what could make a business venture a potential hit or miss.

Architecture of the programme on Telegram

Telegram is an instant messaging application that was launched in 2013 and has, from time to time, been regarded as the main rival to the Facebook-owned instant messaging application, WhatsApp.

“Telegram is so flexible; it allows for the integration of any kind of application you can imagine. And, like any application, it allows for a response from a user and you can deliver content to them,” said Willie Cloete, who is the technical lead of the course. “There’s user input and response back to the user.

“Within the context of the course, as soon as the person has registered and subscribed to the course from the THENSA site, they’ll be sent an introductory message that explains a bit about the navigation within the messaging application, Telegram,” he added.

“It can start by asking them a specific question to take them into this journey. That response will go back to the system which runs in the background, process it in a way that they sent and, based on their response, send them the next response,” he continued.

The response could either be content that participants need to study, or it could be a video, text, audio or a document that they need to input responses to in order to get to the next question or module of the course.

All of this happens through the chat function of the application, including the assessments.

“For example, an assessment can be a PDF document. Let’s say we send a PDF document to the user within the chat window. That document could be opened inside Telegram by the user after receiving it.

“They can fill in the different form fields and then send that as a reply back to the application. We will receive that data, working through the PDF automatically, as this is all done by the software.

“[This is] essentially marking, in an automated way, whatever their responses were in the assessment,” Cloete said, explaining how an assessment would be delivered on Telegram.

Students participating in the online programme will receive a recognised certification of participation from THENSA, MTU and the participating university in South Africa.

Teaching students to be job creators

THENSA’s objective following this pilot phase is to roll out the entrepreneurship programme to all first-year students in their partner universities.

“Our aim at THENSA is to ensure that every student who gets into a university takes this programme during their orientation period so that, even before they embark on their careers, they have the necessary skills to become entrepreneurs,” said THENSA CEO Dr Anshu Padayachee.

Padayachee pointed out that, thus far, most universities have been training students to be job seekers and not creators. This programme aims to change that narrative.

The hybrid official launch of the programme was held at DUT on 27 October 2021. This article is part of a media partnership between THENSA and University World News.