School Report Services

NEW School Website with NEW Services

2008-06-25T22:26:00.001+02:00

Hello everyone,

This is just a short note, telling you that our new School
<http://www.schoolreportservices.com/> Report Services website is now up
and running.

What's new you ask? Let me tell you...

Firstly, we have revamped our entire registration model. Previously, we gave
you the option to register as a SCHOOL or as an INDIVIDUAL. But we got a lot
of 'tire kickers'. So in retrospect it wasn't one of the best decisions we
ever made. Now you have to be associated with a school to register - because
we now ask the school details right on the registration form. This is
hopefully going to save you folks a whole lot of confusion, and we hope it's
going to save us a whole lot of unproductive admin. This means we can give
more time and focus to our main customers - you the school representative!

We also decided to make a whole lot of free content available to all
visitors. These include a revamped Proposal document, some free material
your school can use to communicate to the parents, and the results of a
survey we conducted in Australia towards the end of last year. Registered
users get even more resources.

We decided to add a new service. This service allows us to provide your
school with its own customized Google Earth Satellite Location Pin. It
actually provides your school with its own mini-webpage using the Google
Earth program as the enabling technology. It's really cool and you can read
more about it HERE <http://www.schoolreportservices.com/GEPin1.aspx> !
What's more, it's also darn affordable!

We've improved the general layout and navigation of the site. This
"hopefully" makes it much easier to find what you are looking for.

Lastly, we couldn't have all this new cool stuff without polishing our web
page presence. So we employed the services of a design company to give us
artistic guidance. They did the new branding you now see on the site. We
also reworked our content significantly!

All in all, we hope you like it. - Adam Phillips

Education Expo - Good Stuff!

2008-02-03T07:00:00.001+02:00

Hi,

I know I've been quite for a while - there's a lot going on.

First, we at School Report Services are frantically trying to tie up the
School Communications Survey that we did in Australia last year. It's 2
months late - my sincerest apologies. We were not happy with the quality of
the results that were given us - just a couple of bar charts - so we
undertook a deeper analysis of the data, which is proving MUCH more
interesting - it's also proving to be much more difficult and time consuming
than we first thought to prepare a document we think is worthy of further
distribution. When it's done, we will put the survey results on our website
as a free download. We will also be sending it to the schools in Australia
that wanted a personal copy (along with a humble apology letter for being so
late).

Yesterday, I attended the Education and Schools exhibition at Sandton city.
It showcased a selection of some of the BEST schools in South Africa. I was
impressed with the friendliness of the school staff that were there, and
especially impressed with the confidence and good manners of the student
representatives! Well done. It give me hope for the future of independent
education in South Africa! I still hold to my view that independent
education in South Africa is the way to go if you want to get quality
education. Except for the costs involved (which are steep) I wish the public
education sector would take a leaf out of their book, and get of their
collective rear ends and get more proactive in providing AFFORDABLE, QUALITY
education - which should actually be funded by the high taxes we pay.

We are also dramatically revamping our website
(www.SchoolReportServices.com). Here are some of the changes we will be
making:

A totally new look and feel, with a more friendly navigation interface.

New and Updated content

A NEW service (which is secret for now, but just to say, that this service
will provide your school with "missile targeted" marketing opportunities to
pop you way ahead of your competition). This service will be FREE for those
schools that use our standard reporting service.

That's all for now - I'll keep you posted.

SA School System in Meltdown

2007-11-16T13:38:00.001+02:00

I’m baaacckk!!

Yes, I’ve been quiet for a while. Not because I’ve had nothing to write about – quite the opposite actually – just not enough time.

It’s quite a claim – South African School System in Meltdown!

Since the teachers’ strike here are some headlines from the South African newspapers. Make your own judgments.

· Crisis of the drugs-and-sex kids – Community organizations take action to curb social ills among primary school children (Sunday Times – 9 September 2007)
In this report, 7 children collapsed at Simla Primary after taking Ecstasy tablets. The boy at the center of the scandal faces charges of assault.
A 9-year old girl in the community prostituted herself to fund her own drug habit.
A grade 2 pupil (about 7-years old) is addicted to cigarettes.
Grade 7 pupils (about 12-years old) play truant to host sex and drugs parties at their houses.
According to the report, the drug use leads to sexual molestation, underage sex, alcohol abuse, and theft.
In the Chatsworth community, “Sugars” (a mixture of heroin, cocaine, and rat poison) are in constant supply.

· ‘Innocent’ bunking can lead to sex, drugs and crime (Sunday Times – 7 October 2007)
The gist of this report – two girls who started bunking when 13 years old, got bored, started to do drugs, and paid for the drugs with sex, then lied to their parents to cover it all up.
The Western Cape Education department found that at age 14, 11% of pupils were bunking. At age 16 – 16 %; 23% at 17. At 18, 49% had dropped out of the school system.
Statistics South Africa found that in 2006, 72000 schoolgirls got pregnant, and 547000 girls aged between 13 and 18 dropped out of school. That’s more than HALF A MILLION girls dropping out every year! That’s horrifying!! It begs the question – If that’s just the girls, how many boys can we add to that total????

· Teachers can’t take it any more (Sunday Times 9 September 2007)
One in 10 on stress leave.
13-year-old bludgeons teacher with hammer.
Girls raped on the playground during break time.
The harsh reality is that, generally, South African schools are not safe places.
Unions and experts have warned that great damage has already been done to the education system.
Children found guilty of serious misconduct, such as rape and assault … were often not expelled. … even when a governing body recommended expulsion, heads of departments were reluctant to carry this out.

· School Scam Exposed (The Star – 16 November 2007)
R13.87 for a pencil (costs R4.69)
R120 for R100 calculators
New guitars, but no music lessons taught at the school
Workbooks with 170 errors
Most of the school supplies are handled by EduSolutions as part of a contract from the Gauteng Department of Education. They seem surly, uncooperative, greedy, and uncouth. Yet the GDE insists that certain schools use them as their only supplier. I SMELL A DEAD RAT!! My advice, avoid EduSolutions like the plague if you can.

Heaven help this country with education in the state it’s in.

There’s more – much more – with very little good news. I’m going to stop this post now – I’m feeling positively ill at the thought of educating my young son in this county.

UNDER-Spending is Hurting Education

2007-08-08T20:00:00.001+02:00

This is South Africa’s shame!

The South African Eastern Cape Department of Education has under-spent R139-million allocated for school infrastructure development for 2006/2007! … While the pupils in rural areas:

· sit on tree stumps,

· cram 251 pupils into three crumbling mud huts with only 15 desks between them,

· do not have working toilets,

· have no safe way of crossing rivers to get to school,

· have no storage facilities to store books and equipment,

· have to put up with a school building that is structurally unsafe.

These types of conditions are causing a high failure rate.

Now let’s do the math:

The Education department estimates that it costs about R5-million to erect a school. (I doubt it costs that much! You can build a fairly large “luxury” house in those areas for about R500,000 – so you should be able to build a sound, simple rectangular building with a number of classrooms, an administration office, and safe toilets, for about R1-million! IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE FANCY!!! JUST FUNCTIONAL! – I think someone is padding the figures in the hopes of making a huge profit!)

Even at that ridiculous price, the Education Department could have built about 28 dearly-needed schools. At the more realistic cost of R1-million, they could have built more than 130 safe schools.

I think it’s time for the government administrators to get off their collective rear ends, and do something that benefits the community instead of themselves!

When they eventually do build the schools, they can spend a few pennies in comparison, to give the parents of those pupils in rural areas, a concise summary of their children’s school progress report. School Report Services (www.schoolreportservices.com) has all the details.

Hell, it's tough down under!

2007-07-19T20:50:00.001+02:00

I cracked up about this when I read about it. This is my first post about something “educational related” outside of South Africa. It appealed to me.

Some poor guy named Max, has a surname of Hell. This caused some problems because, according to the report, St Peter the Apostle Primary School in Melbourne, Australia, initially refused to admit him because of his surname. Now the Hell family – of Catholic persuasion – were understandably upset. The school later had a change of heart, but so did the Hells – based on grounds of victimization (or possible victimization). One could say they were “the Hell in!”

Well and good, but unfortunately it’s a fact of life that anything “unusual” gets teased (usually unmercifully) at school. I have a sneaking suspicion that poor Max is going to be teased his entire life. The best thing his family can do it to teach young Max not to take it seriously – perhaps even flaunt it and make light of it. So when someone says “Go to Hell!”, say: “In fact I already live there!”, or “Oh, so you’re coming over to my place then?”

Reverse psychology in such situations actually does work – I speak from experience, as someone who was also “victimized” his entire school life – albeit for different reasons.

At least Max can get his school report sent to his parents mobile phone, no matter what school he goes to if that school uses our SMS reporting service. Check out www.SchoolReportServices.com for more details.

Teachers Strike Today!

2007-06-01T20:15:00.001+02:00

Well, it had to happen sometime I suppose. ...

Today about 80% of South Africa's teachers went on strike. At least most
schools informed the parents that there would be no school today.
Unfortunately, that made a huge dent in worker productivity for most
businesses, because the parents either had to take leave (unscheduled) or
bring their children with them to work (How productive can you be with a kid
or two bugging you the whole day?).

Am I mad about the situation? No.

Am I inconvenienced? Yes.

Am I upset? Yes - but not for the reasons you may think.

I am upset that the situation was allowed to get to this state in the first
place. It's just another indication of how REACTIONARY our government is -
instead of being PROACTIONARY.

Everyone knows that teachers paid by the government get a pathetic salary.
Granted, some of the teachers are pathetically unmotivated, and couldn't
care a damn about the students in their care. However, I know that most
teachers perform an excellent job, under some very trying circumstances.
Government perhaps has lost focus of how important the role of teachers are
in society.

Perhaps if government actually paid our essential services employees
(nurses, teachers, police, etc.) a better salary, they would be more
motivated to deliver the service they are paid to deliver (I know this is a
naïve thought, but I can hope and dream too, can't I?).

The other thing that really irks me is that we pay quite high tax in South
Africa. Our esteemed minister of Finance has managed to collect more revenue
than ever before, from the widest tax base ever, and the average middle
class citizen still has to pay for basic education (government or
otherwise). Like most people, I hate double paying! If our taxes were used
to visibly improve schooling, health care, and safety and security, I
wouldn't mind paying so much tax. (It's at times like this that I admire
countries like Australia, who seem to have a workable and well organized
education system.)

OK, I've had enough of a moan for now. What I'll be spending the next few
weeks researching is: Which country (or countries) have the best primary and
high school education systems. I'll be looking at factors like quality,
subject variety, teacher pay and other benefits, government assistance,
affordability, school infrastructure, other school services, extra-mural
activities, after care facilities, etc. We would like to hear your thoughts,
so please post a comment.

If you want an idea of how we can speed up report delivery for your school,
check out www.SchoolReportServices.com.

Health Screening in Schools

2007-04-25T10:24:00.001+02:00

At last, I'm back! A new school term has begun.

I just recently read an American blog article on vision screening in
schools. It seems that there are a number of social and legislative
issues regarding stuff like vision screening in schools in the USA.

This got me thinking. When I was at school - not so long ago, every
child had his or her ears and eyes checked at least once a year. This
was performed for free, and if there was a problem, the parents were
informed of the results.

OK, we didn't have the luxury of having a resident school nurse like
many schools in the USA and UK - a nurse/doctor/optical technician
visited the school once a year. It wasn't a perfect system, and it had
some flaws. For instance, we had to line up in alphabetical order, and
read an eye chart. If you happened to have poor eyesight, and you were
at the back of the queue, and had a good memory - you tended to have
"perfect" vision.

The thing is, to learn effectively a child needs to be able to see and
hear. There is no getting around this. If a child cannot see or hear
properly, the challenges involved in educating that child are
extraordinary! Just ask any parent of a blind or deaf child.

Having been out of school for a while, I'm not sure how schools in South
Africa (or the rest of the world for that matter) handle this particular
situation. I certainly don't hear much about vision or auditory
screening in schools here. How would a school handle a case where the
parents can't afford classes or hearing aids for the child?

If you know what's going on in this area, please drop a comment.

School Report Services <http://www.schoolreportservices.com/> wishes
you a happy day further!

Religious Intolerance at School

2007-02-28T08:19:00.001+02:00

Now this is a thorny issue, but one that has been in the news lately. It touches on constitutional issues, human rights, school rules, and religious freedom. These various facets are not always in harmony.

I bring this up, because a girl at a local school had a crucifix she was wearing confiscated, and was punished with detention, and had to pay a fine to get it back. The school said that it was against the legislated rules on school uniforms and that written permission was not obtained to wear it. The girl felt that this infringed on her right to freedom of expression and religious freedom. Both are correct from their points of view.

In my humble opinion, this matter shows just what comes from over-legislation – and the reliance on rules to govern, instead of the application of principals. It seems to me that in our efforts not to “upset” anyone, we actually have reached the point where we upset everyone. The application of law has become self-defeating.

Imagine this scenario:
A person of Jewish faith enrolls in a predominantly Catholic private school. What outcry would there be if the school FORCED that pupil to wear a crucifix in order to comply with everyone else? Now you start flaming the fires of intolerance. Therefore, stopping someone from wearing items of spiritual significance to them – whether crucifix, fez, beard, turban, yarmulke, etc., is doing the same thing. Some of the greatest crimes against humanity have been because of religious intolerance.

The principle should be tolerance. Instead of being scared of offending others, we should rather accept, and learn to live with the differences. Those that take offense at displays of spirituality not our own, are small-minded, weak-minded, and intolerant. Unfortunately, these are the people that are the most vocal. But there is an old saying: “Empty vessels make the most noise.”

In the real world, differences exist. People are of different races, cultures, customs, and religions. Some of these differences are in stark contrast to what we might consider “normal” or “right”. This doesn’t make the others “abnormal” or “wrong”. This is how life is – deal with it.

Our children should be taught to be tolerant of others, and perhaps more importantly, to learn the ability of being able to accept intolerance as well – the latter being the most difficult. “Protecting” them by over-legislation is not the answer.

Our Kids are FAT!

2007-02-07T14:13:00.001+02:00

I was walking in the shopping center the other day, and I got to noticing how so many of our schoolchildren are so FAT! I got to wondering why, so I decided to speak to some friends about it – call it straw poll “informal” research.

It seems that the major cause of children being overweight is lack of exercise. When I was at school, PE, or Physical Education was somewhat compulsory. We ran, jumped, swam, and then did it some more. It was actually unusual to see fat children at school. The few that were, were teased mercilessly. Not that that was a good thing.

We also walked or rode bikes to school. After school we played or did chores.

It seems that walking or riding to school these days is not all that safe. So children are dropped off at school – even if they just live around the corner. And then they are picked up in the afternoon. I understand that this may be a necessity due to the levels of crime in this country, or the reckless drivers, or paranoid parents, or all of the foregoing.

When I was at school there wasn’t a MacDonalds on every second corner. Junk food also seems to be a contributing “fat” factor.

It’s a shame really, because physical exercise burns excess fat, increases muscle tone, relieves stress, takes your mind of sex, reduces depression, increases stamina, and is just generally good for you.

In view of all the benefits of exercise, I never understood why Physical Education was removed from the school curriculum in the first place. Now we have a whole generation of fat, depressed, sex-obsessed, stressed-out kids that prefer to play Playstation instead of ball. No wonder they have so many problems – they have no outlet.

Even though it may not be safe to let your kids out alone in the street, there are other avenues for physical exercise. My son and I walk, run, swim, and play ball inside our secure complex. I take him to parks. We work in the garden on weekends together. And it doesn’t cost a fortune. In fact it costs nothing but a bit of imagination.

Come on parents and teachers – get our kids playing again!

While you’re online, why not check out our service for school reporting at School Report Services. This service will keep you informed of your child’s progress at school, and it will save you a bundle in terms of time, money and stress.

Cyber-Bullying Increasing

2007-02-03T08:38:00.000+02:00

It had to happen I suppose. With children becoming increasingly comfortable
in cyberspace, there always have to be those that come along and spoil all
the fun. I'm talking about cyber-bullies.

Just as a school ground bully physically hurts and throws insults at fellow
schoolmates, and generally practices anti-social behavior, so a cyber-bully
does the same - just online.

Cyber-bullying is on the increase, especially in "first-world" countries
like the US and UK where being online is almost ubiquitous. Cyberspace
social networking sites like MySpace, and other blog or instant messaging
sites seem to be the preferred place for online harassment.

Why? Because!

Cyber-bullying is "safe" - in the eyes of the bully at least, because it is
away from the eyes of teachers, parents, and other "witnesses" such as other
classmates. It can be highly anonymous. Bullying can be from "mild" throwing
of insults, to "severe" threats of physical or sexual violence. In a way,
this is worse than physical bullying on the school ground. On the school
ground, at least you know who your attacker is, can see who he or she is,
and can take precautions. This is not often possible with cyber-bullying.
The resulting psychological trauma can be severe. In some instances, it has
even lead to depression and suicide!

Some stats:

1. Girls are just as likely to engage in this activity as boys.

2. 38.3% of girls are likely to be cyber-bullied as opposed 34.4% of
boys.

3. Girls are more likely to retaliate or "answer back".

The internet being such an anonymous forum, will probably make the
cyber-bullying phenomenon very difficult to address. I think that parents
and teachers are going to have to get very inventive.

Please post your thoughts, and while you're online check out
<http://www.SchoolReportServices.com> www.SchoolReportServices.com

Brag Time Again!

2007-01-29T10:36:00.001+02:00

Yes! The School Report Services web site has been updated again! This time we gave a lot of attention to the authentication an user administration. The new features of the site are as follows:

· An entirely new look and feel.

· A new leveled-subscription model. In other words, certain functionality is enabled depending on the type of subscription you choose. Currently there are only two levels – Individuals and Schools.

· For international customers, we have included a new secure payment mechanism.

There will be more changes shortly, but these will be mostly transparent to the users of the site (unless of course we stuff up and bring the entire server crashing down … but we don’t think so).

It’s been a quiet month for blogging – not because of lack of interesting material, but rather because of updating our website.

January is usually a topsy-turvy month for schools anyway. They have to enroll more kids than they have capacity for, they have to teach from textbooks which still didn’t arrive, they have to withhold school reports from pupils who’s parents haven’t paid school fees (BTW: this probably wouldn’t have happened if the school was using our system), etc. etc.

This usually calms down after about a month – and as happens every year, life goes on.

Educators' Social Responsibility

2007-01-13T11:11:00.001+02:00

A quarter of our population in South Africa are already unemployed.

To this will be added 176447 matriculants who failed their exams! 265673 matriculants did not pass well enough to get into university. 33 schools had a 0% matric pass rate! 106 schools had less than 20% pass rate!

The reality today is that a Senior Certificate on its own isn’t worth all that much in the job market. It’s a fact that about 50% of all unemployed people didn’t complete high school. Many unemployed people turn to crime, drugs and prostitution.

The Senior Certificate exam is just a reflection of what is happening in the lower standards. According to some educators, many of our matrics can’t read or write properly. We are of a lower standard than international norms, and fare worse than our neighboring countries. Basically, there are huge problems with our teaching system.

So, when there are problems with the system, this reflects in the students, and this in turn reflects in the unemployment and crime statistics.

I ask when will educators start taking ownership of the huge responsibility they have in improving the social ills of our country, and see their jobs as more than “just a job”?

Of course, there are solutions to these problems. I don’t have all the answers – but I do have one! Why not use an easy method of distributing pupil school reports to the ones that care most – the parents of the students. Every parent cares how their children do at school! They can encourage their children IF THEY KNOW. Check out www.SchoolReportServices to see how.

New Year! 2007

2007-01-06T11:42:00.001+02:00

Gee, before we knew it, 2007 arrived.

With a BANG!

I see that Oprah Winfrey opened her new ultra-exclusive Leadership Academy for Girls as planned. She encouraged other businesses to get involved with improving education in South Africa. Well, we at School Report Services certainly do that!

Costs have gone up to get your kid educated. Woolworths have a good special on at the moment for school uniforms – but school fees are generally astronomical! The good news is that we at School Report Services have decided not to increase any of our charges. Our aim is to make our service as affordable as possible – and keep it that way.

Unfortunately, many pupils didn’t pass their Senior Certificate exam. This is going to put some pressure on our unemployment and crime stats (More on this in a later blog post). Maybe they would have passed if their schools had used our service throughout their school career. Why not check out our offering at www.SchoolReportServices.com.

Matric Results Are Out!

2006-12-28T07:42:00.000+02:00

Today the matric results are released, and the agonizing wait is over for South African matric pupils.

According to the Education MEC, 78% passed, 22% failed. What that equates to in actual numbers, I can't tell.

Well Done! to all those that passed - but remember, the hard work only starts now! In my opinion, school only teaches you how to learn. It is supposed to arm you with the memory, reasoning, and researching skills you will need throughout your future academic and career life. For instance, in my chosen career, I have never had to use trigonometry, simultaneous equations, or chemistry. However, I have had to use the logic and reasoning skills that those subjects taught me. I wish you all good luck with the rest of your life. May you excel in it and enjoy it!

Special congratulations to Jacobus Jordaan from Hoërskool Roodepoort who achieved top spot in Gauteng with 10 distinctions. The secrets to his outstanding performance?

Believe in your abilities.
Aim high and work hard.
Persevere.
Don't rely on the teachers - use them for guidence. Rely on yourself.
Don't get distracted.

Other special congratulations go to those that excelled in their exams dispite difficult and sometimes traumatic circumstances:

Yusef Talia, who suffers from Duchene muscular dystrophy, obtained 4 distinctions.
Kresha Prinsloo, who's mom died just before exams started, passed with exemption.
Rethabile Latakgomo, who's father died as a victim of crime, passed with exemption and a distinction.

These are just some of the students that made headlines. There are probably hundereds, perhaps thousands, of other students who suffered equally trying circumstances, and who managed to rise above their circumstances and pass matric. To all of these pupils, we are proud of you!

Anyway, all these results, though good, are summed up by something that Prof. Mary Metcalfe (Wits Dean of Education) said: "... improvement in quality is built systematically over time and is rooted in quality primary and junior secondary education. We must concentrate our energies on building quality all the way through the system, rather than just focusing on matric." (italics ours).

One of the ways that we at School Report Services strive to do this, is to keep parents regularly informed of their children's academic progress by means of a simple cell phone sms. We do this for ALL school grades - not just matric. By doing this parents can identify weak and strong areas, and encourage their children more proactively. It is this encouragement that we feel keeps the child motivated throughout his or her school career. Why not check out www.SchoolReportServices.com to see what we offer in this space.

Maternity Leave for Schoolgirls

2006-11-29T12:57:00.001+02:00

What next? Paternity leave for the father?

Maternity leave for schoolgirls was one of the proposals made at a Teenage Pregnancy Summit in KwaZulu-Natal last week. This is supposed to support the mother without hindering her education.

OK, this is all very noble and all, but I think it's time for South Africa to wake up, and start letting people experience the consequences of their actions. We have become way to soft and politically correct, and oh so afraid of offending someone, because maybe it's "unconstitutional". I searched Google on this subject, and it looks like South Africa is about the only place on the planet daft enough to entertain the idea of maternity leave for schoolgirls.

Back in the day, if a schoolgirl got pregnant, she had to leave school before she started showing, and could only come back after the baby was born, and had to repeat the same standard again. Harsh it was, but there were very few pregnancies - and the other kids learned from the lesson too.

As far as I'm concerned, if the child is old enough to do "adult things", then they should be prepared to accept "adult responsibilities" and "adult consequences".

While the girl is away from school there are other education alternatives - home schooling or correspondence study. If that doesn't pan out, there is always the alternative of postponing her education for a year or two.

Unfortunately, it's the mother that has to bear the brunt of the consequences - the boy who got her pregnant in the first place most likely gets away with very few consequences. It shouldn't be so, but such is life. Life is not fair - deal with it!

All this is though indicates a much deeper problem ... parents are not giving their kids moral guidance. Moral guidance has nothing to do with class, race, gender, or financial means - everyone can participate. It is NOT the school's job to provide moral guidance. That job was, is, and always will be the responsibility of the parents.

Many parents are unaware of their children's academic progress. For schools to help parents become a bit more aware of how their children are doing at school, why not check out the School Report Services web site at www.SchoolReportServices.com

HooHa over Teachers' Salaries

2006-11-21T12:13:00.001+02:00

Some teachers' salaries are being augmented by funds obtained directly from the parents. This is causing a national stink! But I really don't know what all the fuss is about - maybe I'm missing the boat completely.

Here's the situation:

For government schools, the government pays our teachers' salaries. These are usually low, with few perks - even for senior teachers. Some teachers do an excellent job in spite of the difficulties surrounding their profession. For some of these excellent educators, who are already doing an excellent job, some school boards have decided to augment the government's pittence, and give these teachers certain perks, ranging from accomodation to cash.

I personally don't have a problem with this - as long as the teacher is excellent, I would want to keep him or her in the school so that my child could have a better than average education.

Some people call this "bribery and corruption". I think not. The difference is as follows:

Bribery is paying someone to do what they OUGHT to be doing in the first place.

Bonuses and perks on the other hand are rewards for jobs ALREADY well done, and can be used as incentives to keep up the behavior. This happens all the time in the corporate world - why should schools be any different?

Quite frankly, as long as the bonuses, perks, and other incentives are handled openly, honestly, and with the permission of the school governing body, I don't see a problem with this. In fact, our (good) teachers need all the help they can get.

On the other hand, obtaining funds using unethical methods totally disgusts me, and brings the teaching profession into disrepute. Such is the case it seems with the Ithuteng Trust, run by Jackey Maarohange. Last Sunday, Carte Blanche did an "expose" on the Ithuteng Trust. It seems as if "Mama Jackey" coached students in her school for disadvantaged kids, to lie, dramatically act, and incriminate themselves on public television - in order to obtain funding from high profile politicians, judges, actors, an celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. They even lied to the United Nations!

That's not the worst of it. It seems, from my casual observance, that what the accounting records say, and what the actual surveilance revealed, clashed. My question: Where did all the money go? Some of the students didn't complete their high schooling, very few graduated from university, the universities didn't receive enough registration and tuition fees, boarding houses were empty. Yet millons were spent on "consumables". "Mama Jackey" also has various legal action against her - some of it from her own former students.

Carte Blanche can't bring legal action against Jackey Maarohange, but the celebrities, polititians, and companies that "invested" in her trust can - and I certainly hope that they do.

Notwithstanding all the above, there are some who still want to invest in good governance for our schools. School Report Services is one of these, and they provide an excellent distribution mechanism for pupil's school report cards. Check them out by clicking on the hyperlink.

Traffic Calming Near Schools

2006-11-17T07:43:00.001+02:00

Today, I'm writing about one of my pet peeves - TRAFFIC! I love traffic - as long as it's web traffic. I don't care too much for the other kind.

Anyway, I read an article last month that mentioned how many children were killed or injured crossing the road at their school. I was mortified! I speak for myself, but when I approach any school in my car, I take extra care. It seems there are some "moegoes" (stupid people) out there that just don't use common sense - or just don't care.

It seems that schools that have instituted scholar patrols at crossing points have a much lower incidence of tragedy than the schools that don't. It was pleasing to see that the police were prepared to come on board and teach the youngsters how to handle traffic. Good on you!

I pass two schools every day on my normal route. Both schools have physical traffic calming devices (i.e. speed humps). I would expect that the local municipalities would install these types of traffic calming measures at EVERY school. But no, sadly this is not the case. I don't know if this is just a South African phenomenon. The excuse is, it's too expensive. Figures like R50,000 per speed hump were mentioned. I'm not a road engineer, but this sounds totally ridiculous! What is a speed hump? Some tar or concrete set in a raised form across the road, and some paint to demarcate it properly, plus a sign or two. BAD MUNICIPALITY!! SHAME ON YOU! Perhaps it you implemented some work efficiencies, it wouldn't cost so much.

The good thing about good physical traffic calming measures, is that they are very effective. Hit the bump too fast, and you are in for some expensive repair bills for your vehicle.

I think that it should be law, that the roads around every school should have physical traffic calming measures installed - and that the government should foot the bill.

If your school wants traffic of the good kind, as mentioned at the top of this post, why not check out www.SchoolReportServices.com. School Report Services is the leading provider of SMS-based report card distribution mechanism.

Good Food is Good for School

2006-11-13T07:45:00.000+02:00

It's great to be posting again. It's been a busy October/November. I haven't had time to post to this blog recently, but I have been collecting articles of interest during that time. I now have lots of articles to comment on.

The first article has to do with "junk food" and school tuck shops.

Ever since I can remember, the schools have had tuck shops. The staple fare being sweets and chocolates, fizzy cool drinks, toasted sandwiches, fried (slap) chips, vetkoek, donuts, and so on. Even now the fond memories are adding centimeters to my girth!

However, according to the Sunday Times (October 8 2006), Sunridge Primary in Port Elizabeth has turfed the junk food at their tuck shop and replaced it with nutritious alternatives like tuna rolls, still water and fruit juice, nuts and raisins, carrot muffins, and all the toasted sandwiches use low-fat ingredients on brown and whole wheat bread.

It seems this trend has been set by the schools in Finland, who consistently enjoy top-rate results.

If they had done this at my school years ago, there would probably have been a riot. But, according to the principal, the teachers are seeing improvements in behavior and concentration. They attribute this directly to the healthier food. The pupils with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have shown particular improvement.

So perhaps, if I hadn't gorged myself on vetkoek, Coke, and chocolate when I was at school, I would have performed better academically - I might even have been a genius (yeah, right!!!).

A Tale of Two Schools

2006-10-16T12:34:00.000+02:00

Both schools are in the Eastern Cape - South Africa. Both service underprivileged sections of the population.

One school is plagued by vandalism. The toilets don't work. The pupils urinate and defecate on the school grounds. There is no security. The furniture is broken. The ceiling is falling in. The roof tiles are falling off. The classes are unruly. There are almost no teaching aids or textbooks. The teachers are demotivated. The school has no funds. The state of the school is so bad I wouldn't want my dog to sleep there!

The other school is just as poor - but that's where the similarity ends. This school has a functioning infrastructure. There are no broken windows. The pupils have textbooks and functioning furniture. The classes are well behaved and orderly. The teachers are motivated. The grass is mowed. The students look neat, and have a 93% Matric pass rate.

What is the difference? From what I saw on Carte Blanche last night, the difference has a lot to do with attitude. The first school has just accepted it's fate, and puts the responsibility for fixing their problems squarely on the Department of Education. They don't seem to be prepared to do anything themselves, and rather choose to be victims of their circumstances and chose to blame the legacy of Apartheid (funny - Zimbabwe is doing a similar thing by blaming 'British colonialism' for their mess. Same thing, just on a different scale). The one or two teachers trying to do something are overwhelmed by the backlash of negativity from the pupils and community.

The second school on the other hand, has taken a pro-active approach - totally different from the first school. The community is involved in the maintenance of the school, and the teachers are encouraged to view the pupils as their own children. Motivated teachers, with community support, along with the backup of strong management seem to be the key to success in this instance.

Well, for schools that fall into the second category - those that want to mould their own destiny, instead of being victims to their circumstances, there is an excellent tool available to cheaply send out pupil's school report cards to their parents via cell phone SMS. The website is www.SchoolReportServices.com

Illiteracy Rife in South Africa

2006-09-15T15:24:00.000+02:00

"A third of South African Adults have little or no schooling" according to the Sunday Times. This means that a third of South Africans haven't completed primary school.

There isn't a culture of reading. Only 27% of schools have libraries. Poverty is mentioned as another factor. What's more there hasn't been any improvement in the situation for over 5 years.

I have another view. I agree that poverty may be a hindering factor, but surely something can be done to supply reading material to poor schools for free. What about old magazines and newspapers? Many of the more "wealthy" families buy "kiddy books" for their youngsters - can these not be collected and distributed instead of just trashed when the child has outgrown them? I'm sure the READ organization has some kind of initiative in this regard.

I personally don't think poverty should be used as an excuse. Rather that same poverty should be used as a motivator to get out of the situation. I think that the real reason for poor performance of our children in school has more to do with the parent's "don't care" attitude, than the child's willingness to learn. Too many parent's place the responsibility of education with schools, instead of accepting that responsibility themselves. (In my opinion, there is a difference between Education and Teaching. It's the school's responsibility to teach, but the parent's responsibility to educate - but that's another discussion for another blog entry). Parents should rather be taking more of an active interest in their children's education. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it takes effort. Yes, a parent may have to "sacrifice" some booze or cigarettes in order to get their kids some reading material - but isn't that cost worth it? The only long term solution to the poverty situation is education. All it needs is for people to care.

Reading is hard work. It's not a quick-fix like television or PlayStation - but it informs, and it enriches! I care - do you?

We at School Report Services (www.SchoolReportServices.com), try to assist parents via the schools with a service that tracks their children's progress every school term. The service is affordable. Heck, it's even cheap enough for the Education Department to subsidise!

New Website Now Live!

2006-09-06T15:28:00.000+02:00

I just have to brag!

At last the new School Report Services website is now up and running! Even though I had a few technical diffulties (akin to giving birth to a cow!), I believe the new website is a lot more functional and useful than the old one.

For instance:

There is now a secure Registration and Login mechanism for users.
Registered users can access a secure international payment mechanism and a secure file posting mechanism.
All users will be able to subscribe to the School Report Services blog. (i.e. this one!)
Registered users will also be able to automatically download the proposal in Adobe Acrobat format - instead of having to manually request it via email.
The site looks way cooler than the original! (so i'm told ...)

All of the above is great, but means diddly-squat if it doesn't help the people it is supposed to help - the schools themselves, the students, and their parents.

Take a look and check it out at www.SchoolReportServices.com

What Cell phones are REALLY Used For At School

2006-08-29T14:52:00.000+02:00

"Pupils at East London's Stirling High School have used cell phones to video vicious attacks and horrific fight scenes among uniformed Grade 8 children on school grounds."

"Three video clips ... show how pupils, among them two girls, viciously attack a fellow pupil in a free-for-all fight. In one scene, two girls lie on top of the third, delivering fist blows to her head." - The full report is here

The disturbing thing about this trend is that if anyone tries to break up the fight, they are discouraged. It seems that having such scenes on a cell phone increase the popularity of the phone's owner. Some pupils even seem to pick fights just so that they can be caught on camera.

I am really so sad! What kind of sick society are we living in that glorifies and even encourages such behavior? Most of the fights seem to be about stupid stuff like accusations of "boyfriend stealing", name calling, and just outright bullying.

It seems as if our kids are not being trained to control their emotions, combined with the belief that it's OK to sort problems out with the use of force or violence. This begs the question - What are they being taught at home? What are they watching on TV? They are certainly not being taught self-control, morals, or just plain socialization skills. This may be aggravated by both parents working, and the babysitter being Mr. Playstation. Is it that parents have abdicated their authority, and passed their responsibility over to the school system? I believe so - and it's this that makes me so sad ...

On a lighter note, why not use your cell phone for the purpose it was intended - to communicate useful information. Let your School Governing Body know about www.SchoolReportServices.com. This is a service that provides your child's school report card to you the parent, as an SMS text message on your mobile phone. Get your school to subscribe.

Philanthropic Oprah's School To Open in 2007

2006-08-27T15:42:00.000+02:00

I personally am not a fan of Oprah Winfrey, although my mum-in-law and sister seem to be, judging by the way they follow her show. However, Oprah opening a private school for disadvantaged (soon to be advantaged) girls. WOW!

To be honest, I’ve heard about the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls for a while – but in my own cynical eye, just thought it to be another celebrity publicity stunt. Just goes to show how wrong one can be. Ok, I’ve had a change of mind – but I’m still not an Oprah fan – rather an Oprah “respectee”.

I haven’t seen the school or the building yet, but according to the newspaper report today, it’s sumptuous – and for just 150 very fortunate girls in grades seven and eight. It’s reported that the education value is about R105,000 per year. (as if you can put a value to something like that). There are facilities a-plenty including a wellness centre, doctor and dentist on site, high tech security, top-class teachers, heating and air-conditioning, library, labs, boarding facilities, great curriculum.

The only thing missing from the list is a state-of-the-art addition to their school reports system, so that the parent’s and guardians of these girls can be kept up to date with their progress via SMS on their cell phones. Oprah, if you read this, please give me a call – I’ll donate my service at cost. For more info check out www.schoolreportservices.com

I would have given my eye-teeth to have had it so good when I was at school. I really hope that the girls that graduate from this school help make a difference in the societies that they come from. More than that, I really would like other people and organizations to get behind improving our children’s education.

Inspiration and Consternation

2006-06-06T09:03:00.000+02:00

Over the past two weeks, I've read a number of really inspirational, strange, and downright ugly articles to do with education in South Africa, and elsewhere.

The story that really inspired me was one about a 44-year-old "rapper" science teacher - Sibusiso Maseko, who according to the report totally enthralls his class. What is inspirational about this story is not just his unique teaching method, but that the class consists of 206 grade 12 pupils, and that the school doesn't have a science lab or any science equipment! This teacher started the science department at the Zwelibanzi Secondary School. Sibusiso certainly has the interests of his students at heart, because he holds extra classes from 6:30am to 8pm, and on Sundays too. This teacher was awarded the Stella Clark Teachers award last month. Good on ya' Sibusiso! I wish more educators had your devotion.

The other story that grabbed my attention was one where a family from Britain was fined by their local council for taking their kid out of school for an educational trip to our sunny South Africa, where they visited the Hout Bay township and Robben Island while in Cape Town. The fine was overturned in court, but this raises some interesting questions. How far should parents go to educate their kids? Is schooling always the best "education"? In my opinion, parents should take much more responsibility for the education of their children instead of just leaving it to the school system. Exposure to other cultures counts as education in my opinion, as long as the goal is to educate while having fun, as opposed to just "having fun". Would I do the same? After some thought I must admit that I would. It would be interesting to hear what would happen to parents who tried this in South Africa.

The story that brought consternation was the headline on the Sunday Times front page (4 June 2006): "Pupil violence makes war zones of schools". Who's running the show here? It's definitely not the Teachers and Parents! I mean, jeepers! Anything goes in some schools - vandalism, assults, sexual assault! In my opinion, the wishy-washy statements of our esteemed Education Minister, Naledi Pandor, show a wishy-washy attitude to solving the problem. Kids and teachers of that criminal ilke should be dealt with harshly. In the "good old days" those tendencies were thrashed out of us by a good caning. If that didn't work - expulsion was used. Don't get me wrong - I am not a proponent of abuse, but corporal punishment did most of us no harm. So, we can't use corporal punishment as it is "unconstitutional" - is expulsion also unconstitutional? If certain kids choose to turn our schools into war zones - and I believe those kids to be in the minority - should they not bear the consequenses of their actions? Where is the principle of "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"? Ms. Pandor - get rid of these bad apples in our school system. Stop mincing your words! Please take a more forceful stand of this criminal element. Give the majority of kids who want to learn, the chance to do so. In my humble opinion, it is the lack of strong discipline in schools, combined with the lack of moral guidence by parents that is giving rise to a generation of social misfits and delinquents.

By the way, if parents want to keep an accurate eye on their child's academic progress, why not check out the service I provide at www.SchoolReportServices.co.za or www.SchoolReportServices.com. If it grabs your attention, why not encourage your child's school to sign up for the service, and get your child's grades regularly SMS texted directly to your mobile phone for less than the cost of a hamburger.

2006-05-23T15:10:00.000+02:00

R12.5bn boost for education: "R12.5bn boost for education
19/05/2006 11:54 - (SA)

Cape Town - Education Minister Naledi Pandor on Friday outlined a number of initiatives to deliver the final 'blow of death' to the legacies of apartheid education.

Speaking in the national assembly during debate on her budget vote, she said the problem of thousands of poorly performing schools had to be addressed decisively.

Over the next five years there would be a significant resource input to provinces to support a well-crafted, targeted, quality improvement and development strategy (QIDS), at an estimated cost of R12.5bn.

Initial funding was available in this year's budget.

Support
'It will be a focused response to the disadvantages caused by apartheid education,' Pandor said.
The strategy would begin with identifying 5000 low-performing schools in the least able districts, which would be provided with education support in the form of libraries, laboratories and teaching materials.

Teachers would be supported through high-quality, school-based education development programmes and strengthened district development teams. "