Action against religion in South African schools?

School principals and education organisations in South Africa has reacted heavily to the plan of an organisation “Sceptic South Africa” to start monitoring South African schools that are practicing religion in schools. “Sceptic South Africa” plans to prosecute those schools that allow Bible reading and prayer during classes.

The organisation is headed up by Prof George Claasen, extraordinary professor at University of Stellenbosch. Prof Claasen is acting on behalf of a group of parents that are unhappy about the “illegal” practice of religion in schools. The first schools that will be targeted are “Laerskool Stellenbosch” and “Laerskool Louw Geldenhuys”

According to Prof Rassie Malherbe(University of Johannesburg), an expert on the South African constitution, the constitution does say that religion cannot be forced on anyone, but at the same time it also says that the absence of religion cannot be enforced.

“Government policy leave room for religion in schools”, Mr Jaco Deacon, national operational head of the Federation of School Governing Bodies of South Africa commented. “According to the constitutional framework a school can still be a Christian or Muslim school. The constitution only stipulates that one cannot oblige all students to take part in religious activities. People with different opinions must also not be excluded. Schools should foster understanding and tolerance, rather than enforcing a viewpoint.” 

According to Malherbe any matter regarding religion in schools will be subject to the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom. Constitutional Judge Arthur Chaskalson already found in the 1990s that the state should allow room for people to freely practice their beliefs.

To read the original article in Afrikaans in the Rapport Newspaper by Clicking Here!

What is transformation in Higher Education? Nzimande

Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training addressed the issue of transformation of South African universities at the occasion of the University of the Free State public management memorial lecture, held on 3 September 2009. To read a transcript of his speech, published on PoliticsWeb Click Here!

University students in South Africa can’t read?

The recent publication in South Africa of the results of pilots of the new National Benchmark Tests – tests which measure the performance of school-leavers in three key areas and aim to predict whether or not they will have difficulty as they enter university – has brought a flurry of outrage from academics and politicians. They are reported as claiming that standards are dropping and students can’t read or write. While this sort of knee-jerk reaction to tests conducted at a national level is largely predictable, especially in a country where the school system still experiences huge problems, it is also questionable given research produced in the field of academic development – an area which has long concerned itself with the issue of student ‘under-preparedness’ at universities…….

To read the rest of this article by Chrissey Boughey on University World News Click Here!

Some Challenges Facing the South Africa Higher Education System

The South African Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande delivered a lecture on the Challenges facing South African Higher Education on 14 August 2009 at the 250th seminar of the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Humanities.

For a transcript of the lecture on PoliticsWeb Click Here!