When you’re used to the standard 9-5 working day, you might find your mind wandering towards faraway destinations in those inevitable moments of boredom. Not many of us have the money or the time to drop everything and travel the world. Travel is expensive and entails a lot of hidden costs. But what if you […]

After voicing his strong opposition last night to the South African government’s decision to close schools for a month, DA Leader John Steenhuisen has taken the next step and says the Democratic Alliance will be approaching the courts “on the basis that this decision is politically rather than scientifically motivated & not in the best […]

The DA says it does not support the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to close schools in South Africa for four weeks. “President Ramaphosa has bent the knee to all-powerful teachers’ unions, in particular SADTU, who do not have the best interests of learners at heart,” said DA Leader John. “This is not leadership. President […]

With South Africa entering the eye of the COVID-19 storm, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the closure of public schools for the next four weeks. Schools will close on Monday, 27 July and reopen on 24 August 2020. However, Grade 12 learners and educators will only take a one-week break and reopen on 3 August, […]

On 18 July a virtual tournament using the South African-developed Android app BOATS, will kick off with prizes and incentives of over R30000.00. While having fun, learners will be educated on coding, marine pollution and COVID-19. Background Using mainly the award-winning TANKS mobile application, Prof Greyling and his team from Nelson Mandela University and Leva […]

Monday 7 June 2020 was the first day of school for Grade 7 and 12 learners across South Africa, under the COVID-19 learning environment – complete with face masks, screening and social distancing protocols. On the first day of the reopening of schools, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga visited various schools across Gauteng to oversee […]

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has apologised ‘wholeheartedly’ for the inconvenience following the reopening of schools being postponed to 8 June 2020. On Sunday, the Minister announced a delay to the reopening of schools by a week, following a series of consultations, and the meeting of the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) on Saturday to […]

Final year students in South Africa, and those graduating in 2020, may return to campus under level 3 lockdown. And struggling students will receive free data for three months, subsidised by the SA government. Briefing the media on measures in response to COVID-19, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, said […]

Some parents in South Africa may heave a sigh of relief as Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Tuesday that SA schools will reopen on 1 June 2020, with Grade 7 and Grade 12 learners returning to the classroom. “Independent and public ordinary schools will open, even in the metropolitan areas,” the Minister said. […]

A beautiful heartfelt initiative by a teacher in Johannesburg, South Africa, who wanted to help her learners not miss out during Lockdown, has gone viral around the world. (Watch video below.) Pamela Kantor, who teaches at a government school attended by many kids from Alex (Alexandra township), was devastated that during lockdown (because of coronavirus) […]

There have been 403 incidents of vandalism, burglary and destruction of schools across several South African provinces since the start of the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, according to the Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, who has condemned the criminal activity. The damage of school property includes torching of schools, the theft of learning as well as […]

We are a group of concerned citizens and educational activists and South African leaders, with the support of the National Association for Social Change Entities (NASCEE). We have heard Minister Motshekga’s interview on e.TV on 10 April, and understand that a Recovery Plan will be tabled to the Cabinet in the course of the week. […]

The public broadcaster and the Department of Basic Education have launched a COVID-19 learner support initiative in an effort to limit the impact of the lockdown on the school calendar. The multimedia learner support initiative, the SABC and the DBE said in a joint statement, is part of the broader efforts to prevent the total […]

About 50 parents protested outside the Eastern Cape Department of Education’s district offices on Thursday morning because of a shortage of teachers at Coselelani High School in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth. They blocked the entrance, stopping vehicles. They waved placards: “Expecting 100% pass rate in a school with no educators. In your dream.” School principal Langa […]

People readily help each other. We donate blood and food or help old people across the street. Among non-human animals this propensity to help is very rare. There are a few observations of helping behaviours in non-human animals. For example, vampire bats provide food to other group members and save them from starvation. In more […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government will this year introduce Coding and Robotics in Grades R to 3, in 200 schools – with a plan to implement it fully by 2022. This is one of the steps taken by government to improve education in the country. Government is piloting the Coding and Robotics Curriculum for Grades […]

To improve the quality of general and specialised police investigations, government will be establishing a Crime Detection University in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria. This was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday evening, when he took to the podium in Parliament to deliver the State of the Nation Address. He said his plans for investment […]

The City of Johannesburg (COJ) Libraries has been shortlisted at The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2020 for The Library of the Year Award. eLearning Manager Jeff Nyoka told SAPeople: “We are extremely excited about the nomination, it’s testimony to the amount of work that the librarians in various City of Joburg libraries have […]

A coding project called TANKS – which originated at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa – will be flying the flag high for SA, sharing the global stage at UNESCO’s Mobile Learning Week in Paris early March. Of 250 submissions from across the world, it is the only project invited to a plenary session […]

When Siphamandla Ntshewula was studying for matric in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, his family used to tell him the bright ceiling lights stopped them sleeping. So the young South African came up with the idea of making desk lamps from plastic bottles. Ntshewula, from T Section in Site B, matriculated in 2017. Now 21, he says […]

Siyamthanda Mtyeku studied for matric in the one-roomed shack he shares with four other people in Marikana informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa – and passed with seven distinctions. The 18-year-old Siyamthanda Mtyeku had to contend with loud music pumping from the shebeen across the road. Some days the food he was given at […]

The world of work is changing constantly, profoundly, and faster. This is clear from the outsourcing of work, waves of technological advances, increasing automation in business, and big data analysis driving the growth of industries. The needs of industry are shifting constantly and the education system should be responding to provide needs-based support. Education theorists, […]

It’s been a sad week for South Africans as children headed back to school, with tragic incidents marring what should have been an exciting time in their lives. The shocking death of a Parktown Boys High, Grade 8 pupil, Enoch (Enock) Mpianzi – who drowned while on a school camp – governed the news. But […]

More than 900 learners at Ibhongo Lethu primary school in Upington started school today with no toilets at all. There are four blocks of about six classrooms for learners from grades 1 to 7 with toilets for each block, in the school, which was built in 2014. But the toilets were vandalised in late 2018, […]

South Africans have praised Bergville Primary School principal – Aleem Abrahams – for his speech to the community, encouraging parents to nurture good values at home. Speaking outside the school in Bishop Lavis, Cape Town, Abrahams said schools can’t nurture good values in a child if they haven’t been instilled at home. He urged parents, […]