My
FREE SA
Jayram Daya
My Front for Radical Educational Empowerment of South Africans
It was believed in the Hindu
scriptures that it takes 12 years to change the mindset of people to accept
change. After 12 years the mind requires a transition period of 2 years. All family, societies or countries with its traditions is a symbol of continuity. In
a social structure, one witness a continuation of principles, rules, and laws.
Any break in this continuing stream appears to the Haman mind as confusion and
lawlessness resulting in the destruction of the very order which it has built
up with toil and labor. The mind indeed is very clever. The mind of man
desires to keep intact its areas of attachment under all circumstances. Hence
the mind is the cause of man’s bondage as well as his liberation.
The mind of man forever evades
the real issue; it seeks to escape from the actualities of life. But when all
escapes are blocked and evasions are not possible the mind is compelled to face
the stark realities of the problem. We in South Africa have reached a situation
that needs mending. 25 years have gone by and neither the politicians nor the
people have brought about real change.
Can we install a 3x5 year plan
for the most neglected structure of our society? This will bring real change.
Note30; Changes are inevitable and this is the beginning which
needs to be monitored with a timeline and a progress evaluation system to check
out the changes. The first interval should be 3 years; the second interval
should be 5 years which would allow evaluators to assess the progress. With
again new modifications the last 5 years should show change. If this is not
done then the change is an utter failure with lost revenue.
Note31; Solidarity has once again directed the way
forward. This is also what I anticipated from the ANC. Having worked with many Afrikaners
I observed that most of them are hands-on people. They learn a trade and
dominated the domestic service markets. Seeing them in the past I also did an Apprenticeship
being a university graduate and have never looked back at what happened.
The big changes coming to South African schools
Staff Writer3
November 2019
Subscribe
After numerous policy
changes and the stop-and-start implementation of various models, South Africa’s
education system has finally turned a corner, says Basic Education minister
Angie Motshekga.
Writing in a column for the
Sunday Times, Motshekga said the basic education sector is now ‘firmly a system
on the rise’ meaning that there is no need to overhaul the entire architecture
of the basic education system.
Note30; However, she indicated that a number of changes were on the way that
would improve education standards across the country.
“We are not about to
introduce a new curriculum. But, as you all know, any curriculum worth the
paper it is written on remains a dynamic document, meaning amendments
occasioned by the new developments will be considered,” she said.
“Our focus is on the
re-engineering of the sector to cement the narrative of a system on the rise.
“It is all about being
faster (Khawuleza phase), and smarter (Digital Innovation). It is about
building the service delivery ecosystem for better quality and value in our
basic education sector.”
Note30;Of one of the ways that the schooling system is ‘changing for the
better’ is through the implementation of the new General Education Certificate
(GEC), said Motshekga.
“In simple language, (the
certificate) marks the end of the compulsory school-going phase, Grade 9, with
a nationally recognised qualification after having passed a standardised
national assessment,” she said.
“Inherently, it will offer
a standardised benchmark against which schools can compare their internal
assessment standards.”
Motskega added that no
learner will be asked to exit schooling at Grade 9 after obtaining the
certificate.
Instead, the certificate
will be used as a barometer to assist learners to choose their future learning
pathways that are available in the system, such as academic, technical
vocational and technical occupational.
Other proposed changes
BusinessTech has previously
covered a number of other proposed changes coming to South African schools in
detail.
Some of the most notable
new policies which Motshekga and her department are working on include: Note30;
- Compulsory Early Childhood Development (ECD)
– Government aims to enrol all South African
children in a two-year compulsory Early Childhood Development (ECD)
programme before starting Grade 1;
- Decolonising education – Motshekga has previously indicated her department would
continue with the decolonisation of education through the teaching and
promotion of African languages, South African and African history and
national symbols to all learners up to Grade 12. She said that a new
compulsory history curriculum would also be introduced following public
consultations;
- Progressed learners – The policy of ‘automatic progression’ proposes that a
learner may only repeat a grade once in the Foundation Phase (Grade R –
Grade 3) to prevent them from being retained in this phase for longer than
four years. Motshekga said that her department is putting plans in place
to make the necessary policy amendments to allow for these changes and
that the amendments will ultimately be a boon to both students and the
school system;
- New subjects – As part of plans to future-proof the economy, president
Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged to introduce a number of technology-focused
subjects to the curriculum. In April 2019, the Department of Basic
Education said it had trained 43,774 teachers in computer skills and would
shortly begin training teachers for the new coding curricula. The minister
said that the DBE will also be introducing a robotics curriculum
from Grade R-9.
Solidarity begins work on its new R4.5 billion alternative Afrikaans
school system
Staff Writer17 September 2019
Subscribe
Trade union Solidarity has
started construction of its new R300 million Sol-Tech Occupational Training
College campus.
Funded entirely by
community investments, the campus is the first major project that forms part of
education and employment projects worth R4.5 billion the Solidarity Network
will embark on over the next five years.
According to Dr Dirk
Hermann, Solidarity Chief Operations Officer, the Sol-Tech campus is
world-class and on par with international institutions.
“Although our criterium is
world-class, our architects succeeded to use a typical South African and
specifically Afrikaans design style,” said Paul van Deventer, MD of Sol-Tech.
“Traditional architectural
styles have been absorbed in the design in a modern way. The layout of the
campus acknowledges in a variety of creative ways historical events and dates
where artisans played an important role.”
Earthworks commenced on
Monday (16 September), and the campus is expected to open its doors in January
2021.
Solidarity said that its
next major project is the construction of the Akademia campus where education
will be offered through Afrikaans as the medium of instruction.
Note31;
Projects included in the
Solidarity network pipeline include:
- A comprehensive alternative school system,
- An occupational training,
- A university,
- Financial aid for education,
- A youth movement,
- A network of occupational guilds,
- Mentorships;
- Job placement;
- Protection in the workplace;
- Continued education.
How it is being funded
Hermann said that the strength of
Sol-Tech and of its new campus lies in the fact that it is being built by the
community.
“Every Solidarity member
donates R10 to a Building Fund each month,” he said.
“Thousands of members of
the public donate smaller amounts each month to make the building of
institutions such as Sol-Tech possible.
“What we see here is not
the product of state money or major empowerment money but of small
contributions by the thousands adding up to make something big happen.”
Hermann added that the
union was calling on people to join the group in working for the huge building
projects.
“The only way we can ensure
a future is to build it ourselves. In less than two years and a million bricks
later we will have a campus here where young people will be equipped to stay in
South Africa and to be free, safe and prosperous here,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment