Busi, Shumang and Annetjie, three learners who attend three different schools in South Africa will tell us about resources, language, culture and diversity in their schools.
Hi, I’m Shumang from Limpopo Province. I am a Grade 11 learner at Mashigo High School.
I’m the third generation from my family that has come to this school, some of my teachers taught my uncles and aunts too.
Cultural celebrations in our school are the best time of the year when we wear our traditional clothes.
We put on the best dancing and singing performances in our district.
About language: I like it that most people speak and understand one language.
But sometimes we learners are not very welcoming to learners who speak another language.
It's nice that most people are still in touch with their families and traditions.
But because of less advanced technology in rural areas, it is more difficult to find information about study and work opportunities.
Hi, I’m Annetjie, I’m from Johan Jurgens Hoër Skool in Tshwane.
I’ve only been here for two months and I’ve already made a friend from Soshanguve. When I see all the learners in uniform I feel proud. We look smart and united, even though we come from all different cultures.
What I think about extra-murals:
We can take part in lots of activities, e.g. sports, outings, cultural clubs etc. It's exciting.
On the down side there is a lot of pressure on us learners to perform well in everything.
Sometimes it is difficult to balance time between academics and sports.
It is nice that the school is multi-cultural, there are even learners from other countries.
It can also cause tension and arguments when learners from different cultures don't understand each other.
About resources:
It is nice that the school is well-equipped with computers, an excellent library and big sports fields.
But to maintain these facilities the school fees are quite high, which causes a problem for my family.
Hello, I’m Busi from Orlando West High School in Soweto.
I’m very proud that my school has been a part of history and helped improve the education system for all South Africans.
About school culture:
The school is part of the community. We learners feel like we belong to a close-knit family.
About resources:
I like that our school is used for community events, like community meetings, awareness campaigns and church gatherings. What I miss are resources like a well-equipped lab or library.
In all the three schools we’ve heard about, we can see that culture and diversity issues are an important part of any school.
These issues affect the way in which learners in the school relate to one another.
For example, are there lots of “closed” groups of friends or cliques which are not open to accepting “outsiders”?
…sometimes there are barriers between learners of different ages, genders, or religions or between learners who perform well at school and those who don’t, or those who come from wealthy families and those who don’t.
Are these cliques formed on the basis of the language you speak or the country you come from, e.g. do all the Afrikaans-speaking learners stick together? Or all the Zimbabweans?
Can the school help break the barriers between different groups down?
Let’s hear from Annetjie, Busi and Shumang what their schools are doing to break down barriers and building relationships between the learners.
It was our class’s turn to prepare the monthly assembly. We came up with the idea to celebrate the rich religious diversity in our school.
We decided on the theme of “Peace”.
We discovered that in our class alone we have learners from eight different religions; Islam, Catholic, Bahai, Zionist, Jewish, Hindu, Shembe and Buddhist.
The assembly consisted of readings, prayers, chants, songs, dances and blessings from all the different religions – it was a success!
We have a debating society in our school; a group of clever, well-spoken young girls who are also friends with each other. They have won many competitions.
Lately though I noticed they are not open to others.
At break times they are always in a group by themselves. They study a lot so the teachers like them. But if someone outside their group asks them for help, they say they are too busy.
We often have conflicts in our school. Sometimes they start will small things and end up being a huge fight.
The other day a Grade 7 learner, Vorster, came to me crying because his friend, Clifford, had insulted his mother.
He said he was thinking of getting his friends to beat Cliff up after school. I decided to do something.
I asked Vorster if he would be prepared to talk to Clifford and he agreed.
We sat together in a quiet classroom after school. I explained to them that I was not there to take sides, but to help them listen to each other.
They both had a chance to share their side of the story. I asked them not to interrupt while the other person was talking!
Vorster said he was angry that Clifford had insulted his mother. Clifford told that she was angry because Vorster had teased him about his big ears!
I then asked them if they would like to say anything to one another. For a while no one said anything.
But then both of them agreed and apologised to one another.
In each of Annetjie’s, Busi’s and Shumang’s stories are important lessons to be learned. If you go to the discuss, you can do an activity about these stories.
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