education

The shortage of doctors is ham-stringing the health services but medical schools are turning away thousands of aspirant medical practitioners each year.

Ranked among the top 500 universities in the world, the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine rejected 5 290 applications this year because it could accommodate only 210 first-year students.

The universities of – the Witwatersrand, Medical University of South Africa, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Pretoria, Walter Sisulu and the Free State - have turned down thousands of applications.

Founder and benefactor of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, Oprah Winfrey, says the standard of school education in South Africa is too low.

Winfrey emphasises that South Africa had to invest in leadership so that rewards could be reaped later, especially in poor communities.

She points out that her school’s success is due to good, knowledgeable teachers and to girls who were not pampered because they came from difficult backgrounds.

A United Nations-led alliance has urged young people to change behaviours that increase their risk of contracting AIDS, and called on their elders to provide leadership, education and support.

The group released a report urging communities, leaders and young people to act to stop sex with multiple partners or with older partners, whose prevalence of HIV is statistically higher.

The South African National Editor's Forum (SANEF) has described attacks on newspaper photographers as not only illegal, but possibly part of a growing tendency among police and the public to prevent journalists from carrying out their duties.

In a press statement, SANEF says there have been a number of instances where police have tried to prevent photographers from taking pictures, taken their cameras, and on occasion roughed them up and arrested them.