EDUCATION - The African Mirror

Aug

22

2025

Elite schools in South Africa: how quiet gatekeeping keeps racial patterns in place

EDUCATION

IN South Africa, children’s admission to a particular public school is decided by the province. Each provincial education department manages its own digital admissions system. The Western Cape province introduced an online admissions portal in 2018, which became fully operational in 2024. The aim was to make school placement more transparent. This is important because historically, under apartheid, South African education was racially segregated and unequally funded. White schools received the best resources. Education researcher Samantha Kriger took a closer look at what actually happens in admissions to schools in the Western Cape that used to be exclusively white (known…

Aug

08

2025

By ABDIFATAH ISMAEL TAHIR

Somalia’s education crisis: why so few children attend school and what could be done to change that

EDUCATION

AROUND 98 million children and youth in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school, accounting for nearly 40% of the global out-of-school population. This is disproportionately high, considering that the region accounts for roughly 15% of the world’s population. In simple terms, “out-of-school children” are defined as those within the age bracket for primary or lower secondary education who are not enrolled in either level. One of the primary barriers to access is conflict. This is particularly evident in Somalia, which has endured violence and upheaval since the collapse of its central government in 1991. Various armed groups, including clan militias…

Jul

24

2025

By RHONET ATWIINE

Congolese refugee girls find comfort and opportunity in Ugandan school

EDUCATION, MULTIMEDIA

IT’S a hot afternoon in Katwe, a suburb of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Sunlight spills through the windows of a classroom where teenage girls face a blackboard. Their teacher moves across, explaining an arithmetic formula. In the middle of the class is 14-year-old Justine Bigirimana, a science student who dreams of becoming a doctor. She’s one of the many Congolese girls embracing new opportunities through education—opportunities made possible by the freedom to move and learn across African borders. “In the future, I want to work in the biggest hospitals and save lives. After my studies, I hope to return to my…

Jul

22

2025

By ANTHEA ADAMS, PATRICIA MUHURO, and SANDRA WILLIAMS

South African university programmes to support black students aren’t working. What needs to be done

EDUCATION

MOST universities and colleges have formal and informal programmes and initiatives to support student and staff development. Their goal is to create learning experiences that help students succeed academically. Typically, academic development practitioners design and run these programmes. They are usually academics themselves. To help students, they use tools like data analytics to design tutoring and mentoring programmes. For staff, development might include formal courses, webinars, workshops and seminars. Education researchers Anthea Adams, Sandra Williams, Patricia Muhuro and Charlene Van Wyk-Geduld reflect on their recent paper on academic development in South African higher education. What is the role of academic…

Jul

19

2025

By DUMISANI TSHABALALA

Skills, not just grades, will shape South Africa’s future

EDUCATION

ARE South African classrooms preparing students for the challenges of tomorrow's economy? As we celebrate World Youth Skills Day, Dumisani Tshabalala argues for the urgent need to prioritise skills development over traditional grading systems. Today, as South Africa celebrates World Youth Skills Day with speeches and hashtags, a persistent question echoes beneath the vuvuzelas: Are our classrooms shaping the skills that tomorrow’s economy will require, or merely polishing report cards for yesterday’s tests? Certificates hang proudly on lounge walls, but too many of their owners feel lost at university, adrift in their first jobs, or stuck when facing problems no…

Jul

16

2025

By JULIE SHANTONE RUBBI NUNAN

Bullying, violence and vandalism in primary school: study explores a growing crisis in South Africa

EDUCATION

SOUTH African primary schools are facing a crisis. Every day, learners fight, bully, destroy property, and intimidate other learners and teachers, turning what should be safe spaces into places of fear and mistrust. Research shows that learner behaviour frequently involves violence, bullying and vandalism (damage to school property) that threatens the safety of both learners and staff. The media usually report only serious cases of violence, but schools and teachers face challenging and dangerous behaviour every day that often goes unreported. This underreporting is not unique to South Africa; it’s a challenge seen in other countries too. Research shows that…

Jul

05

2025

By SHAW BADENHORST

Fun with fossils: South African kids learn a whole lot more about human evolution from museum workshops

EDUCATION

SOUTH Africa has one of the world’s richest fossil records of hominins (humans and their fossil ancestors). But many misconceptions still exist regarding human evolution, and school textbooks contain inaccuracies. South Africans still have some of the lowest rates of acceptance of human evolution, mostly due to conflicting religious views. Religion and the non-acceptance of evolution hinder the understanding of evolution by teachers and learners. It doesn’t help that school subjects (evolution being one of them) are often taught in unengaging ways, rather than interactive methods. Many studies have shown that collaborations between schools and informal science learning centres, such…

Jun

30

2025

By SUMAYA LAHER

Can academics use AI to write journal papers? What the guidelines say

EDUCATION

ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) refers to “intelligent machines and algorithms that can reason and adapt based on sets of rules and environments which mimic human intelligence”. This field is evolving rapidly, and the education sector, for one, is abuzz with discussion on AI use for writing. This matters not just for academics, but for anyone relying on trustworthy information, from journalists and policymakers to educators and the public. Ensuring transparency in how AI is used protects the credibility of all published knowledge. In education and research, AI can generate text, improve writing style, and even analyse data. It saves time and…

Jun

12

2025

By RACHEL SILVER and ALYSSA MORLEY

What keeps girls from school in Malawi? We asked them and it’s not just pregnancy

EDUCATION

COVERAGE of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns on girls in Malawi emphasised the risks they faced as a result of not attending school. In particular, concerns about pregnancy garnered significant media attention. The United Nations Children’s Fund, for example, published an article in March 2021 entitled “Schoolgirl shakes off COVID-19 regret: Lucy’s return to school”. Under a glossy photograph of a smiling girl, readers learn about 16-year-old Lucy, one of 13,000 Malawian students who became pregnant during COVID-19 school closures. The story went on to detail the dire consequences of sexual activity to Lucy’s well-being, and the redemptive…

May

15

2025

By SIOUX MCKENNA and NOMPILO TSHUMA

AI can be a danger to students – 3 things universities must do

EDUCATION

GENERATIVE artificial intelligence (AI) is trained on enormous bodies of text, video and images to identify patterns. It then creates new texts, videos and images on the basis of this pattern identification. Thanks to machine learning, it improves its ability to do so every time it is used. As AI becomes embedded in academic life, a troubling reality has emerged: students are extremely vulnerable to its use. They don’t know enough about what AI is to be alert to its shortcomings. And they don’t know enough about their subject content to make judgements on this anyway. Most importantly, they don’t…