Education

NSRI’s water safety education a “drop in the ocean”

The WaterWise Academy has taught water safety skills to over half a million children around the country. These skills are easy to learn and provide an effective way to reduce the number of drownings in South Africa, says the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).

Kevin Elliott

News | 20 January 2015

Meet the first Mitchell’s Plain school with a 100% matric pass rate

It has taken almost 50 years for a school in Mitchell's Plain to achieve a 100% matric pass rate. Not since the community’s inception in the 1970s has a school in the area managed to ensure that each of its pupils not only made the grade but also excelled at maths and science.

A’Eysha Kassiem

News | 12 January 2015

Let’s not focus only on the matric results

A focus on the matric results obscures problems lower down in the education system, writes Wim Louw.

Wim Louw

Opinion | 7 January 2015

Long day’s journey to school

The journey to school is long and tough for many pupils. Some have to travel for hours on foot to get to school. The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) recently collected affidavits in rural KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) which were “truly incredible and devastating”.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 4 December 2014

Teaching Khayelitsha children to swim

Nondumiso Marman used to fear water but now she teaches Khayelitsha children how to swim.

Siyabonga Kalipa

News | 3 December 2014

Donors respond generously to GroundUp article on sanitary pads

In November, GroundUp published an article on learners using socks and all manner of items as sanitary pads. Donations have been streaming in to the GroundUp offices ever since. These will be distributed to schools.

GroundUp staff

Brief | 2 December 2014

Factions fuel violence at Durban hostel

Sitting on a worn-out green sofa outside Durban’s giant Glebelands hostel, Thulani Kati describes in graphic detail his alleged torture by a special police unit on 2 October this year.

Fatima Asmal and Barbara Maregele

Feature | 28 November 2014

Prevention strategies the key to curbing violence against children

“South Africa has no national statistics on violence against children,” says Shanaaz Mathews, director of the Children's Institute at the University of Cape Town. In the absence of statistics, the South African Child Gauge looks at community-based studies. The 9th issue was launched in Pretoria on Tuesday.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 20 November 2014

Link between poor housing, traffic deaths and education outcomes

The 7th annual Irene Grootboom Memorial Dialogues, which explore the continuation of Cape Town’s “spatial apartheid”, are underway. On Tuesday night, the focus was on the spate of shack evictions around the city this year, and the correlation between poor, densely populated areas and traffic deaths and education outcomes.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 19 November 2014

Making a go of graphics in Gugulethu

Bheki Kunene started his own business, Mind Trix Media, in 2009 with just R600 and a computer. Today he has eight employees and clients across the globe.

Siyabonga Kalipa

News | 18 November 2014

Current struggles of historic school that Biko attended

Forbes Grant Senior Secondary School is not safe. The flimsy fence structure around the school is easily breakable. On the school’s perimeter, the fence has gaping holes in many places. In some parts, there is no fence at all.

Daniel Linde

Opinion | 12 November 2014

Ndisebenzisa ikawusi njengephedi, utsho umfundi wakwaLanga

UAkhona ufunda kwibanga lesibhozo. Njengabo bonke abalingane bakhe baseklasini abaninzi, usoloko ephoswa kukuya esikolweni xa esexesheni ngenxa yokuba usapho lwakhe alukwazi ukumthengela iiphedi. Xa kufuneka abhale uvavanyo, usebenzisa ikawusi, utsho.

Pharie Sefali

News | 11 November 2014

Recruiting child soldiers on the Cape Flats

Calvin* has spent over half of his life in Cape Flats gangs. Today, he is 26 years old and a high-ranking member of both the Mongrels street gang and the 28s prison gang.

Dariusz Dziewanski

Opinion | 10 November 2014

I use a sock as a sanitary pad, says Langa learner

Akhona is in grade eight. Like many of her classmates, she often misses school when she has her periods because her family cannot afford sanitary pads. When she has to write a test, she uses a sock, she says.

Pharie Sefali

News | 6 November 2014

How an organisation is helping immigrant children with disabilities

It is not easy to raise a child with disabilities if you are a single mother and a foreign national living in a township in South Africa. Fortunately, there is the PASSOP Disabled Children Support Group.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 5 November 2014

Students demand an end to unequal education

“In my school we have two main problems. The first one is a lack of water. Our taps are not working properly,” said Phila Biyongo, a grade 9 student at Simanyene High School in Strand, as she marched through Cape Town city centre yesterday afternoon in a protest organised by Equal Education.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 1 November 2014