“A cold war of As and Twangs”

Rudolph Nkgadima
@RudolphSegagabi

As young a boy growing up in Thokoza, a township in the East Rand, South Africa, I always envied my peers who went to Model C schools in town or the suburbs. This was not because of the beautiful school buildings they had or the wonderful stories they would often narrate to us about sons and daughters of "so and so" they schooled with. What made me envy them was the way they spoke English with that distinctive manner of pronunciation.

Their "English" was the pride of their families. They would often be paraded when visitors came over and would be asked to show off the best possible twangs to guests who would exclaim in all kinds of excitement.

Every parent in the neighbourhood wanted to have kids like that; I also wanted to be that kid. It didn't matter that I was a straight A learner at school - I didn't have the accent and thus wasn't quite like them. According to everyone in the township the British Queen's language was a symbol of status.

Unemployment Means One Has a Lot of Time, What’s Yours Spent On?

Cyril Skosana

@McCyrus_Skosana

Three years ago, you were a different person, enthusiastic about your new venture. Call it a commencement of hope, not only for you, but also for those who look up to you, especially your siblings. You are their hope after all. 

It was a start of a new life with promises of a brighter tomorrow. However, a year if not few months ago, your dreams met with “the reality” of this world and you felt let down by your hopes, ambitions and passion. Really, this is when you began questioning your decisions. “Why did I choose this course?” You are not alone, and there’s still more who will feel like kicking themselves after a brief moment of self-introspection. My friends do not squirm in despair. 

I Stay in a South African Town Where I've Been Asked What an Internet Cafe is

Khuliso Nemarimela

@willeinstein

Recently I started working as an intern in small town of Kuruman in the Northern Cape. I am from Venda. Growing up I would eat all the fruit that people know that part of Limpopo for. On completion of my schooling I then moved to Pretoria, where I am currently in the final year of my National Diploma in Journalism at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). I never thought my journalism studies would bring me to this part of the world, where I have experienced the biggest under-development area I have ever imagined in South Africa.

Growing up in rural Venda one would expect that we don’t have modern day technologies, but we do. One can still be connected to the internet, there is a university in the area and big cities such as Polokwane and Pretoria are not too far to reach if there is something we cannot find nearby. We even have a football team in the Premier Soccer League. The Northern Cape, where I am working, has no university, Kuruman seems to be a deserted town and in my new home, the village of Maruping, I asked around for an internet café once and one young lady responded by asking me what an internet café is. I realised then that if I didn't have my mobile phone, I would be disconnected from the rest of the world. I also wasn't sure whether there was a lack of education in the area about such things or whether the young lady in question was just ignorant.

Stranded Students Find Shelter in Townhip Church

Ofentse Ramatsetse

@albertofentse

A lack of information has led to many students from areas outside Pretoria to remain stranded as they applied late for university, leaving them without accommodation in the city while the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) processes their applications. After being approached by the university’s Students Representative Council (SRC), a local church has decided to house the estimated 265 applicants as they await a response from TUT. Some arrived in the capital with no food and the Apostolic Faith Mission in Soshanguve’s Block B has decided to take on the responsibility of feeding them too. SRC president, Khoisan Sonti, says he saw the need to approach various churches after realising many students would camp outside TUT’s Soshanguve campuses. Luckily they were willing to help. 

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. 

Impoverished School's New Method Increases Academic Performance

Sthembiso Sithole

@sitholesthe

Lindokuhle Cindi, with her father,  received the five distinctions she'd planned for.

Often when Matric results are released the focus would be on schools with a history of producing brilliant results. The pupils of these schools too would often be some of the best performing in the country. But as this happens, South Africans would neglect those which are disadvantaged and as a result have a history of poor performances. Phafogang Secondary School in Rockville, Soweto, is one of those schools. This year they increased their pass rate and the number of distinctions went up to eleven with one student obtaining five.

The principal, Tuska, Matlejoane, says he believes the increase is due to his changed approach to educating the predominantly financially disadvantaged pupils of the school. “I designed a new tool that will help indicate whether the progress is moving on.”

Greater Unity Needed to Provide Pupils with Varsity Info

Sthembiso Sithole

@sitholesthe

Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, considers centralising applications.

On Tuesday 10 January 2011 we heard and read about the death of a mother of one of the people who were queuing-up at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The woman died in a stampede as many late applicants were standing there with the hope that they would receive university entry despite applications at most universities having closed in 2011. Some students have raised concerns over this with one even posting a statement on Facebook that asks the university to enrol that 48-year-old woman’s child with no charge.

Late university applications seem to be a continuing trend in South Africa despite constant requests that students should do things early to avoid such scenarios. Some students view technical institutions like FET colleges as last options despite them providing skills that are crucial to the country.