Nursing Students Crown King & Queen

Sthembiso Sithole 

@sitholesthe

Nursing students often go through tough training as they learn how to save lives and often nurses get little credit for the important that they do. Recently those training to get into this profession got a chance to let their hair down as South Africa’s largest hospital selected Mr and Miss Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital 2012.

Hospital project officer, Londiwe Ntuli, says this was to boost the youngsters’ confidence. “Today’s event, we want our students to feel confident with their bodies, especially ladies. We want our students to have fun as they work hard in their studies.”

TUT Students Believe in University's Mentorship Programme

Sthembiso Sithole

@sitholesthe

Every first year in university deserves a mentor to assist them with their academic work and give them a start – especially at the beginning of the year. A lot of the time students have to stand in long queues while processing last minute paper work, they would get lost as they move from office to office and yet still have to get to lectures and might even get left behind in their work. That is where mentors come in to assist.

In South Africa a lot of schools also have an education system that doesn’t prepare most students for university. In high school students have teachers who spoon feed them the whole time whereas at university they will get lectures and lecturers, but they have to do a chunk of the work by themselves and lecturers just work as facilitators as it would be getting discussed in class after readings would or should have been done for homework. Many students aren’t used to this and as a result fail to do the readings properly or end up not doing them at all expecting the lecturer to spoon-feed like the high school teacher did.

DASO Clearly Doesn't Understand Majority of Students

Gift Ngobeni

@nyikogifted

The campaign that caused much trouble.

The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) recently launched its recruiting campaign in a rather controversial, if not provoking, manner. A poster of a black woman and a white man, seemingly naked while embracing each other, has sparked some serious debate, ridicule and outcry in the media and the political sphere.  

As a student who is currently in his fourth year at university I find the poster rather confusing and unnecessary. DASO has argued that the picture aims to increase racial tolerance in the future of the country. But what confuses me is DASO’s reason to make the models naked. It would be rather vague to say DASO is promoting sex in schools like one Facebooker articulated. I think we have moved beyond the stage of thinking such campaigns are promoting sex, but what wasn’t clear to me is what this student organisation, which is barely seen campaigning at many universities, stands for exactly. The poster released earlier this week sure doesn’t explain it and DASO says it comes as the first in a series of them. I wonder what the rest will look like if the mother body hasn’t told the youngsters to chuck the rest in the dustbin.