learning

Education For All, a non-governmental organisation, says some learners in Limpopo have started mid-year exams without all their textbooks.

The organisation, which has taken up the court fight on behalf of affected schools, says it has received reports that some of the schools are receiving duplicates or wrong orders.

Swaziland’s National Curriculum Centre (NCC) is working towards upgrading the schools curriculum to be in line with the First World Vision 2022.

NCC’s Sandile Shabangu revealed that the biennial meeting that would be held this year would be held under the theme ‘Vision 2022; implications and opportunities for the curriculum’.

The NCC expects participants from all walks of life to attend the conference with specific reference to educationists, politicians, economists, industry, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations and the general public.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is concerned that there are still schools that administer corporal punishment despite it being illegal.
 
The rights body says that the practice is contrary to the country's constitution and international human rights standards.

Addressing the opening of its two-day conference on the subject at Parktown in Johannesburg, SAHRC chairperson, Lawrence Mushwana, says corporal punishment in schools infringes on the right of a learner to basic education.

Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (AYISE), a Malawian non-governmental organisation, has condemned the current girls self-boarding system taking place in many community day secondary schools in the country, saying the challenges they face as self-boarders negatively affect their learning ability.

Numerous schools in Limpopo are taking the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to court for failing to deliver textbooks.
 
The move is headed by 23 schools that say that between them, they still need 18 000 books.

The case, initiated by lobby group Basic Education for All, through civil rights organisation SECTION27, is due to be heard in the High Court, Pretoria.

To read the article titled, “Fight for textbooks back in court, report,” click here.

The Department of Social Development states that early childhood development (ECD) centres are facing many problems.

The department’s spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant, warns that, "ECD centres are battling with issues of inadequate infrastructure, inadequate equipment and supplies, a lack of practitioners and poorly trained practitioners, as well as inadequate health and safety measures, among other issues."

Thyolo Active Youth Organisation has donated a bore hole to Nachipere Primary School that has stayed over a year and half without portable water.

The donation follow a complaint by the head teacher, Foster Ligomeka, for the school that pupils at the school have been using rainwater and sand to clean cups after eating porridge.

Ligomeka explains that, "In the absence of water the pupils were going for whatever works. Some cleaned their cups with sand while others used rainwater and each child has to bring their drinking water in a bottle."

According to a newspaper report, some schools in Limpopo still have not received their textbooks for the 2014 school year.

Sipho Mothobuka, principal of Moloketla Primary, complains that the education department makes announcements on the radio to say that the books are delivered, but that is not so and it is a problem.

Daniel Ramatladi, mathematics teacher, states that teachers sometimes forced to write out the whole textbook on the blackboard.

Former President Nelson Mandela's granddaughter Ndileka, is continuing with Madiba's legacy to enhance education in rural areas.

Ndileka has launched a new foundation in honour of her father and Madiba's eldest son Thembekile, who died in a car accident in 1969. 

The Thembekile Mandela Foundation will focus on education, health and youth development in rural areas and its first project will be to refurbish the hostels Clarke Berry School in the Eastern Cape.