THE first of four planned teacher training colleges to be reopened in the country was officially opened at Siyabuswa in Mpumalanga.
The teacher education training campus at Siyabuswa was formerly known as the KwaNdebele Teacher Training College.
It was reopened this year by the Department of Higher Education and Training to offer the four-year Bachelor of Education degree in foundation phase teaching.
It will in the future be a campus of the university still to be built in the province.
Higher Education and Training MinisterBlade Nzimande has said other teacher training colleges would be reopened in Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The department has been working with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on curriculum development.
The college received 1200 applicants, of whom 300 matched the requirements to study, said UJ dean of education Professor Sarah Gravett.
All students are funded through the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme, and will have to work in a public school when they complete their studies.
One of the students, Busi Sibuyi, 20, said she was privileged to study at the campus.
"I passed matric in 2011 and could not study last year because I did not have enough money. My first choice was to be an actress and teaching was second. I am so happy I was chosen for this."
Sibuyi, originally from Nelspruit, speaks isiSwati but will now learn isiNdebele as part of the course.
Gravett said the campus would also assist in promoting isiNdebele.
"We found that we do not have enough isiNdebele literature. Our final-year students at UJ in Soweto have to write a children's book in SeSotho or isiZulu. We hope to do that here with isiNdebele and maybe some of them will be published."
Nzimande said: "In 2009, our public universities produced about 168 African language foundation phase teachers. That situation has improved substantially since then and we are continuing to undo the damage done particularly to African languages."
He said that Funza Lushaka and the teacher recruitment campaign had contributed to the increase in new teachers.
"In 2008, just less than 6000 new teachers graduated from public universities. In 2011, this figure increased to 10350. The system is therefore on track to produce more than 14000 new teachers by 2014." - monamat@sowetan.co.za
Drive to produce more teachers
THE first of four planned teacher training colleges to be reopened in the country was officially opened at Siyabuswa in Mpumalanga.
The teacher education training campus at Siyabuswa was formerly known as the KwaNdebele Teacher Training College.
It was reopened this year by the Department of Higher Education and Training to offer the four-year Bachelor of Education degree in foundation phase teaching.
It will in the future be a campus of the university still to be built in the province.
Higher Education and Training MinisterBlade Nzimande has said other teacher training colleges would be reopened in Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The department has been working with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on curriculum development.
The college received 1200 applicants, of whom 300 matched the requirements to study, said UJ dean of education Professor Sarah Gravett.
All students are funded through the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme, and will have to work in a public school when they complete their studies.
One of the students, Busi Sibuyi, 20, said she was privileged to study at the campus.
"I passed matric in 2011 and could not study last year because I did not have enough money. My first choice was to be an actress and teaching was second. I am so happy I was chosen for this."
Sibuyi, originally from Nelspruit, speaks isiSwati but will now learn isiNdebele as part of the course.
Gravett said the campus would also assist in promoting isiNdebele.
"We found that we do not have enough isiNdebele literature. Our final-year students at UJ in Soweto have to write a children's book in SeSotho or isiZulu. We hope to do that here with isiNdebele and maybe some of them will be published."
Nzimande said: "In 2009, our public universities produced about 168 African language foundation phase teachers. That situation has improved substantially since then and we are continuing to undo the damage done particularly to African languages."
He said that Funza Lushaka and the teacher recruitment campaign had contributed to the increase in new teachers.
"In 2008, just less than 6000 new teachers graduated from public universities. In 2011, this figure increased to 10350. The system is therefore on track to produce more than 14000 new teachers by 2014." - monamat@sowetan.co.za
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