Programme inspires pupils to appreciate SA cultures

THE University of Fort Hare yesterday kicked off its first graduation ceremony of the season in which it will confer 88 doctoral degrees, five of them on women in science and agriculture.

UFH chancellor Dumisa Ntsebeza said the university had a great legacy that needed a specific plan to preserve it. He highlighted two major projects that had been identified with the help of vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu. These were the building of the Alice campus library and hall.

Ntsebeza said: “The location of the University of Fort Hare is of great importance to the university and to the people of Alice, who have come to identify the area as home of the century-old institution. The university must have its own ‘kraal’ where it performs its sentimental ceremonies, and that place is the Great Hall,” said Ntsebeza.

Ntsebeza, an alma mater of UFH, said the university must take up its rightful position in society as a leader of thought production. A functioning library was a vital tool for thought production.

“I was in the university at a time when it only had just over 400 students – 116 female and 351 male.

“The library at Steward Hall was meant for that number but the university has now grown to 9 000 students who must use the same facility,” said Ntsebeza.

UFH has a total of 16 000 students across all three campuses.

The keynote speaker for yesterday’s graduation ceremony was another alumnus – advocate Vusi Pikoli, a former SA National Prosecuting Authority head. Pikoli was at the centre of instigating criminal charges against disgraced SAPS commissioner Jackie Selebi, as well as former ANC and South African president Jacob Zuma.

Pikoli said the current generation had a mission different from any other generation, which was to consolidate and sustain the gains of the liberation struggle.

“The country has entered a different stage of the struggle which is to liberate the country from poverty and to attain economic freedom in this lifetime,” said Pikoli.

The university produced 2 964 graduates who will be conferred with 90 certificates, 299 diplomas, 1 721 junior degrees, 654 honours degrees, 145 masters and 88 doctorates (PhDs).

Buhlungu said the year had seen an increase in the numbers of PhDs being conferred. In 2017 the institution produced 71 PhDs and this year it was already sitting at 88 just in the first season of graduation.

“We have a long-term plan that aims to increase the number of PhDs with a specific focus on the encouragement of black South African females from the Eastern Cape.” — CULTURAL competency education specialist Bathandwa Kwababa is bringing her rich cultural diversity programme to Mdantsane to train school pupils to embrace their heritage.

Kwababa educated a group of Mdantsane school teachers and community leaders last week about the principles of afterschool and school holiday programmes.

She will be launching the programme at Mdantsane primary and high schools next month.

Kwababa, who is from Mdantsane, has made a name for herself nationally, educating young and old on the diverse cultures and heritage of South Africa.

In December 2017 she held a three-day workshop for 54 high school pupils in Alice, where she conversed with the pupils about stereotypes and discussed misinformed beliefs imposed on their cultures, as well as the misinformed ideas they held on other cultures and races.

In her session last week, she told the group of community members that empowered teachers, principals and community members would strengthen the quality of pupils produced in schools in townships and suburban areas alike.

“Pupils around South Africa have taken up (the issue of) cultural competency and are keen to understand matters surrounding diversity, but teachers and the communities play an integral role in building pupils up,” she said.

She said the pilot three-day session in Alice last year revealed a deeper need for cultural education for school children.

“There are a lot of past hurts that our youth carry with them, but schools are transforming and pupils are taking up conversations on cultural diversity. From next month I will be introducing a diversity programme in township schools to address needs directly relating to pupils in these environments.”

Kwababa said the schools programme would target pockets of pupils from different schools and take them through a three-month journey on issues of race, ethnicity, stereotypes and leadership.

She said her work was to help pupils “unlearn” intolerance and misconception about races, which she believed perpetuated racism among different groups.

“When we empower pupils from a young age, we bridge thinking and tolerance gaps between people of different cultural backgrounds.”

Mzamomhle High principal Malusi Koltana said: “This programme embraces our school’s vision on development and leadership. It will have an impact on the development of pupils and community.”

Nomnqakati Gcaki from Jonguhlanga Senior Secondary school in Ncerha said there was a need for pupils from rural schools to feel they belonged in bigger conversations in order to boost morale.

“I’m so excited for the practical knowledge that will definitely help transform our school pupils and the surrounding community.” —