Hundreds of enterprising students from primary and secondary schools across Fingal are making final preparations for the annual Fingal Student Enterprise Awards, taking place on Thursday, March 12th.

Organised by the Fingal Local Enterprise Office, over 2,000 students from 31 primary and secondary schools have been taking part in the programme since last September, making it the biggest programme of its kind in the country.

Representatives from these local schools will now compete in March's County Final at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown, for a share of the €15,000 prize fund.

The Fingal Student Enterprise Programme, which is an initiative of the Fingal Local Enterprise Office and Fingal County Council, is supported by the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB). It stimulates the creation of real-life businesses in primary and secondary schools, by encouraging students to research and manage their own business, with the support from local business mentors.

Announcing the details for this year's County Final, Oisin Geoghegan, Head of Enterprise with Fingal County Council, said: “The Student Enterprise Awards programme in Fingal is the largest and most successful programme in the country with record numbers of students, from primary and secondary schools across the region setting up and running their own businesses.”

Fingal's Student Enterprise Programme is part of the National Student Enterprise Awards competition, which annually sees over 17,000 students compete on the national stage. Category winners from the Fingal County Finals will advance to the National Final, to be held in Croke Park in April.

Geoghegan added: “With the support of the schools, the local business community, sponsors and Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board, Fingal students are gaining invaluable experience in the world of business. The lessons they learn on this programme will help them become the entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow.”

Paul Reid, the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, will be announcing the winners of the intermediate category and Councillor Mags Murray, Mayor of Fingal, will present the senior category prizes this year, which includes an educational trip to Barcelona, as El Prat in Barcelona is twinned with Fingal. The category winners and runners-up will all receive Blanchardstown Centre gift vouchers, glass trophies and certificates.

Broadcaster Rick O' Shea of RTÉ 2FM will host the awards ceremony in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, with the Enterprising School Spirit Award winners at primary and secondary level receiving laptop computers from the DDLETB, which is also sponsoring the DDLETB Enterprise Award.

Last year's category winners were 'Jeet Argan' from Donabate Community College (junior category), the 'Boot Drying Box', from St.Vincent's in Castleknock (intermediate category), and 'LAPS – The Board Game' from Skerries Community College (senior category).

Prizes on the day also include vouchers from the Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin 15, One4All Gift Vouchers in Swords, Xtreme.ie in Balbriggan and Simtech Aviation in St. Margaret's.

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The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will award bursaries to deserving high school learners in the De Doorns region in the Western Cape this academic year.

The announcement was made by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana during a pre-Sate of the Nation Address (SONA) community engagement with the farming community of De Doorns on Monday.

“The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be awarding bursaries to hard working, talented and deserving learners in this region,” said the Minister.

The department’s external bursary scheme has three categories - high school bursary, undergraduate bursary and postgraduate bursary.

Minister Zokwana’s community meeting was a direct follow-up to the dialogues which Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa had with the farming community in the Boland last November, where he committed that government would return to the area early this year.

“The underlying purpose of this visit is to ascertain the critical facets of a working farming model, which can later be utilised as an ideal model to resolve the persisting working conditions of vulnerable workers across the country.

“This intervention will include the profiling of farms with the best farming practices that can serve as models to be replicated in the rest of the Western Cape and later on rolled out in the rest of the country,” said Minister Zokwana.

The farms that will be selected will be based on the real working relationship and good farming practices between the farmer and farm workers.

During his visit, Deputy President Ramaphosa said focus will be put on the following interventions to improve the lives of farmworkers:

• Stopping the evictions of farmworkers;

• Abolishing the ‘dop’ (paying workers with cheap wine) system and managing its devastating impact;

• Providing decent housing for the community of farmworkers;

• Providing quality health services; and

• Building models of patriotic and progressive farming practices.

Government has monitored farm evictions and established a toll-free line to report evictions. - SAnews.gov.za

A task team, which was recently appointed by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, has recommended that the department plans and implements a rigorous national Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) teacher development programme.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) on Monday said recommendations outlines that the programmes should focus on improving mastery of MST curriculum content and instructional management.

According to DBE, the Ministerial Task Team drafted a report in 2013 that also highlighted that the programme should make use of appropriate and effective training interventions and techniques.

DBE said the Ministerial Task Team was appointed to investigate challenges that hamper performance in MST, following the scrutiny that Mathematics learners and teachers have been put under in recent years, with regard to competency.

The task team also recommended that the programme improves subject advisory services by strengthening district capacity, resources and training.

It further recommended that the department’s coaching and mentoring should be made effective by focussing more on subject support than on administration and prioritising classroom based support, coaching and mentoring. – SAnews.gov.za

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Johannesburg - Instead of taking notes using the old pen and paper, learners at Boitumelong Secondary School will now use the new tablets provided in their classrooms.

This paperless education system -- a project branded the "Big Switch On" -- will enable learners to have access to learning material, workbooks and other learning paraphernalia in the palm of their hands.

Classrooms at Boitumelong have been transformed into digital learning spaces with top of the range Information Communications Technology, while the traditional chalkboard has become a thing of the past for teachers. Chalkboards have been replaced with big computer screens at the front of the classrooms.

Unlimited 4G data connectivity will ensure that learners can also do their work from home.

Speaking to SAnews at the launch of the Big Switch On, ecstatic learners at the school - most of whom have never owned a smartphone or a tablet - believed that the devices will help them match their counterparts in more affluent schools.

"I do not think I will ever miss a day of school again and I will never have a reason to fail science or maths ever," said grade 10 learner Pearl Mokoena.

Boitumelong Secondary School is one of seven Gauteng township schools taking part in the pilot the project.

The Gauteng Education Department hopes to roll out the project to all Gauteng township and rural schools by the end of the 2017/18 financial year at an estimated cost of R17 billion.

All high school children will be provided with a tablet computer and grade seven pupils in primary schools will be trained to use the devices.

Permanent IT specialists will be on site at any given time to assist the learners and educators with the new system.

Apart from surveillance cameras, each school will have two armed security officers. The tablets have also been fitted with tracking devices.

The project was launched by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi and Gauteng Premier David Makhura.

Speaking at the event, which coincided with the first day of inland schools opening, the Deputy President said the project by the Gauteng Department of Education is in line with the plan to improve the quality of education in the country.

He said it demonstrates an appreciation of the opportunity that information technology provides for more efficient distribution of learning material and as a tool for more effective teaching.

“It enables educators and learners to access resources that exist beyond the walls of the classroom. Indeed, it enables them to access resources from the other side of the globe.

“It gives them access to the world. Importantly, it also gives them the skills that are needed to succeed in this world,” said Deputy President Ramaphosa.

He hoped that the project will motivate learners and make it easier for them to bridge the divide between the world of learning and the world of work.

“This divide - between the skills we learn and the skills we need - continues to frustrate our efforts to tackle youth unemployment. That is why we need to support this programme and to expand it.”

The Deputy President said ultimately the R17-billion project will boost the country's economy.

“If our economy is to grow, if the lives of our people are to be improved, if business is to thrive, then we need more of this,” he said appealing to the private sector, families, communities and teachers to continue playing an active role in the education the country’s children.

Unlocking educational potential

Deputy President Ramaphosa also urged learners to embrace the opportunity given to them and commit to learning in order to succeed.

He said that he expects more than the 80.26% pass rate which the school received in 2014.

“Education will provide you with the tools and opportunities to overcome any obstacle that comes your way.”

Minister Motshekga was confident that the project will make schooling more exciting for learners.

“If I were a teacher or a learner now, I would be excited about this project. We are basically taking the learners to their world, the digital world and they will be able to work independently,” the Minister told SAnews.

Although expensive, the investment on ICT will save about 30% of the budget which was used to buy books. The saving can be used to maintain and roll out ICT throughout the country, the Minister said.

Premier Makhura said the launch of smart schools was a revolution in education and a game changing shift.

“We are witnessing a major transition, a revolution in education which is part of the transformation and modernisation in Gauteng,” he said.

Meanwhile, MEC Lesufi reiterated that they have taken special care with security arrangement around the pilot the project. He said there will be a coordinated effort between police and the community to safeguard the equipment.

“We have put the most sophisticated tracking devices in all the tools. The police are trying to put one in one of their systems as well. So if you take a tablet from a child, we will be in a position to track it back anywhere in the country.” – SAnews.gov.za

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