Friday, 5 March 2021
Zandile Bangani was born and raised in Cape Town. She writes about matters pertaining to education and is committed to improving the level of education available to working-class and impoverished families.
The Department of Basic Education has been unable to support pupils with different learning needs during the lockdown, leaving parents concerned that their children are being left behind.
Online learning is not as simple as downloading the educational material and in an unequal country like South Africa, not all pupils have equal access to the internet.
Leaving children unsupervised as schools close is a worry. But the Covid-19 lockdown means parents staying at home too. Not earning is impossible for people struggling to afford the basics of life.
Students have been protesting at the start of the academic year against financial exclusion and a lack of accommodation. It’s an all too familiar situation, but what are the alternatives?
ACFS Community Education in Meadowlands provides daily meals and after-school support to children, and now has a computer lab. Parents can learn, too, and benefit from the vegetable garden.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence, but its shelters are battling to stay afloat – and government departments have been slow to explain why.
A Wits scholar hopes to preserve knowledge production systems passed down from generation to generation in the games children play, which are now at risk of disappearing.
Teenagers remain traumatised and fearful after xenophobia flared up in their schools and compromised their education.
The formalisation of the Early Childhood Development sector is putting pressure on care facilities already working with the bare minimum.
Dismal working and living conditions on farms drove farm workers on to the streets of Cape Town in protest against inhumane treatment, gender discrimination and evictions.
South African university graduates are willing to take menial jobs because of the dearth of suitable employment despite being highly educated.
Orapeleng Vivian has the talent, but a lack of training facilities, coaches and sponsorship is impeding her dream of competing internationally.
The courts declared it unconstitutional to exclude domestic workers from being compensated for injuries sustained on duty. But legal protection continues to be difficult to access.
Armed with brooms and mops, domestic workers took to the streets to demand better wages, recourse to legal protection against unscrupulous employers, proper paid leave and payslips.
A preschool and aftercare centre in Germiston is an apt model for early childhood centres, preparing young children for pre-primary and helping bring older children up to speed.
The National Sanitary Dignity Implementation Framework aims to provide pads free in no-fee schools. Ambitiously, its long-term goal is to distribute to all girls in all schools.
Battling slow and inadequate government care, parents of children with disabilities both go it alone and set up organisations to help their offspring live full lives.
The application system excludes many guardians and parents who don’t have access to the internet and so can’t easily apply for school places for their children and grandchildren.
Blowy residents recall their night of terror as they begin the long labour of rebuilding their shattered lives.
Township women create safe spaces for children to develop and express themselves through reading.
At 66, Lucy Ramohapi is studying education, determined to become a teacher and eventually a principal. She hopes her bravery and dedication will inspire others.