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Time for mass action once more: The People’s Summit for Quality Education kicks off

The People's Summit for Quality Education kicks off today. It is a landmark moment for both Equal Education and the greater movement for quality and equal education in South Africa. Here follows the text of an opinion piece by EE Coordinator Doron Isaacs, published in this week's Mail & Guardian  (June 24 to 30, 2011). 
Click here to read Isaacs' piece on the Mail & Guardian website.

WHAT DO TEACHERS REALLY THINK OF LIBRARIES? SOME INSIGHTS FROM A STUDY OF SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES IN A SMALL SOUTH AFRICAN TOWN

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Excerpt

 

The premise of the study is that, in a country where less than 20% of schools have functional libraries (South Africa. Department of Education, 1999; Bot, 2005) and where there is a new curriculum that, according to widespread consensus, emphasises resource-based enquiry learning, public libraries might well have to take on a more active role in information literacy education than they might be expected to in countries with better developed school library structures. My earlier research, which involved interviews in one week with over 800 pupils in two public library branches in a disadvantaged township in Cape Town, found most of them to be in the library to “do a project”, with 78% claiming never to use any other library and only 3% reporting access to a school library in the course of their current project (Hart, 2003).

 

However, there are questions over the capacity of South African public libraries for information literacy education, for example:

How knowledgeable are public librarians about information literacy and about contemporary approaches to information literacy education? 

What kind of programmes are in place?  

Do public librarians want to take up a role in the information literacy education of school going youth  – at a time when they are experiencing severe budget cuts (Lor, 1999; Hooper & Hooper, 2000)? 

Are librarians able to be teachers?  

Do public libraries have adequate resources to take on this new role? 

Do they have the connections with schools that an enhanced role in information literacy education implies? Is there recognition amongst public library staff and educators in schools that information literacy education is a “shared endeavour” (Bundy, 2002)?  

This paper makes no attempt to provide a rigorous account of the research project – hopefully the completed dissertation will do that. Its purpose is to provide a glimpse of the study and to take the opportunity to share some of my findings. The focus in the first part is on public librarians’ conceptions of their role in information literacy education; it then moves to the second phase of the study with a focus on educators’ conceptions of the educational role of the public library. The suggestion is that, paradoxically, shared conceptions contribute to a gulf between the two sectors, which needs to be bridged if the needs of school learners are to be met.  

Some Gauteng schools to ‘defy’ exam delay

KAMOGELO SEEKOEI, DAVID MACFARLANE AND RYAN HOFFMANN | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Aug 25 2010 14:29
Kamogelo Seekoei, David Macfarlane and Ryan Hoffmann

Some schools in Gauteng have already said they will not implement the provincial education department's injunction on Wednesday that matric preliminary exams be postponed. For the well being of their pupils, they will set their own exams and adhere to the original prelim dates.

Speaking exclusively to M&G Education, Roger Millson, executive officer of the Gauteng chapter of the Governing Body Foundation, said prelim exams at schools his foundation oversees will start next week as originally planned. The foundation represents 350 schools in Gauteng.

Millson says at least one district was in consultation with its district office and agreed that the schools would use the department’s time table.

“And I assume that the district got permission from the department.”

"Unfortunately I cannot mention the names of schools as there is a threat of intimidation," Millson said. And "one school has already started with the preliminary exams", he added.

Gauteng education minister Barbara Creecy announced the postponement on Wednesday morning — reportedly an "indefinite" one. The department then told M&G Education the postponement would be by two weeks.

Support EE’s Read-In!

On 6 March 2010 Equal Education will be hosting a 24 hour ‘Read-In’ at The Bookery, 20 Roeland Street, Cape Town.  Members of the public are invited to go there anytime between 10h00 am on the 6th of March 2010 and 10h00 on the 7th of March 2010 and read and relax! Informative discussion, live storytelling and readings from adventure to horror books will see everyone into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mischievous’ comments slammed by unions

Trade unions reacted angrily on Tuesday to the government's claim that it had made a new wage offer to public servants as they entered the seventh day of a national strike.

"That is not a new offer from the government. Its offer is still seven percent. The government is just misleading the public," said South African Democratic Teachers' Union deputy general secretary Nkosana Dolopi.

Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Monday that there was only one tenth of a percentage difference between the unions' demands and the state's offer.

He said the government was "in real terms" offering an 8.5-percent increase, while the unions were demanding an 8.6-percent hike.

Maseko said additional to a seven-percent increase, there was a 1.5-percent pay progression, which came to a total of 8.5-percent.

Unionists slammed his statement as "mischievous".

"The question of the pay progression has always been there… A collective agreement on the pay progression was signed in 2003," said Dolopi.

Joint statement: Equal Education and the Equal Education Law Centre welcome National Treasury’s three year extension of the School Infrastructure Backlogs Grant to help tackle overcrowding in our schools

24 April 2023 Joint statement: Equal Education and the Equal Education Law Centre welcome National Treasury’s three year extension of the School Infrastructure Backlogs Grant to help tackle overcrowding in our schools Equal Education (EE) and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) welcome the decision by National Treasury to maintain the School Infrastructure Backlogs Grant […]

RE: Learners Involved in Equal Education’s Campaign Against Late Coming

Excerpt
 

4. This campaign organized by high school learners, supported by EE, and aimed at learners themselves. As such, the campaign aims to motivate learners to come to school on time. 

5. This campaign aims to instil in learners a respect for the value of school. As such, the campaign supports principals and teacher in motivating learners to value their own education. 

 

Click here to view the letter

Minister of Basic Education to address 12th Graders in Khayelitsha

The Minister of Basic Education is expected to speak at 9:00 am this Saturday 24 April 2010 at KwaMfundo High School.  Minister Angie Motshekga’s speech will be preceded by a march hosted by Khayelitsha Education Forum (KEF) which will commence at Luhlaza High School at 8:00am and is scheduled to end at KwaMfundo High School at 9:00 am. The March is in support of KEF’s 100% pass-rate campaign to motivate grade 12 learners from all over Khayelitsha to pass Matric.
 

Equal Education welcomes the presence of the Minister Angie Motshekga in Khayelisha and proudly supports the 100% pass-rate campaign. Equal Education will attend the KEF March andhopes to have an opportunity to raise concerns with the Minister, including the need for her to respond favourably to the Campaign for School Libraries.