RUTV 3

  His lyrics have meaning to them as he tries to make the world a better place through his music. He speaks his mind and will not stop until his point has been reached… Read more about S.C.A.M on his MySpace Page:

http://www.myspace.com/scamcallcottstevens

OBE was first introduced in the 1990’s when the quality of South African education came under great scrutiny. Aggravating the problem even further were issues of inequalities within South African society, with the majority of the population sidelined and discriminated against. As a result, education policies had to be revisited in such a way that they would revise educational provision in such a way that they would promote a more balanced view of South African society.

In later months the ANC ruled out Apartheid education and in doing so introducing OBE in 1997, the government’s attempt of addressing the education crisis in the country. Apart from the curricular being implemented so as to limit content-based learning it also had to respond to international trends in educational development. In March 1997 the Education Minister announced in the British parliament the launch of Curriculum 2005.

Questions still remain unanswered with people enquiring whether or not the change in South African education was for the better or for worse. Or perhaps whether the OBE curricular simply lowers the standard for high achievers, whilst relegating those who have traditionally struggled to mediocrity, instead of realising individual potential.

The depreciating quality of the country’s education cannot solely be attributed to OBE but also one may argue that it is because of our national obsession with the matriculation exam as a bellwether of achievement.

Every year thousands of matriculants, are said to complete the curriculum unprepared for the challenges of higher education let alone the workplace. The ultimum question then becomes, Are the new breed of matricualnts well equipped than their predecessors? A third of the 2008 candidates failed matric last year, despite the fact that the pass rate has been lowered to just 30% (refer to graph). The actual matric pass rate decreased by 2.7% while learners receiving matric exemptions increased by 5.2%. The Department of Education has been called to address this crisis and ensure that it improves dramatically.

Rhodes students having fun with primary school kids at the jumping catle.

We were covering the SRC Community Engagement Week. An initiative organised by the SRC to get Rhodes students involved with the Grahamstown community at large, which took place from the 16^th to the 20^th of March. The human chain was the first event to kick off the week. Residents and primary and high school learners from all over Grahamstown came to link hands with Rhodes students as a sign of unity. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Galela Amanzi relaunch took place in the location as well as other numerous displays at the library quad. On Thursday there were displays at the library and about 43 departments were invited to take part, but only three departments honoured the invitation, but it wasn’t a big problem because the bring a learner to Rhodes project was a huge success. For this initiative, students from Drostdy Hall and Kimberly Hall were shadowed by grade 11 learners to lectures, tutorials and practicals. Friday was the final day, on this day, the SRC organised a “community in unity fun day”. On this day, primary school kids came to have fun with Rhodes students; they played soccer, played on the jumping castle, learnt how to play drums and did a bit of face and t-shirt painting. The initiative was very successful judging at the turnout of students who were willing to help out and the media coverage it got. The event is not that popular within the Grahamstown community and quite relevant to Rhodes university students, therefore it was covered only by the student newspapers like Activate and Oppidan Press and Rhodos, a Rhodes staff newsletter that circulates every month and therefore we were the only broadcast journalists covering the story. The reason why we covered the story was the fact that, the story had never been done and was quite relevant to Rhodes students. The project was advertised on the Rhodes student homepage, Studentzone and the first event of the week was featured on the  Oppidan Press blog.

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This story about Julius Malema’s first visit to Rhodes campus caused quite a stir. People thought it was a rumour at first but then as soon as posters  were put up confirming the arrival of the ANC Youth League leader, people started to believe.

There were concerns that the event would be too big for Rhodes Campus Security and Grahamstown police to handle, with many saying that it could turn into a rally, with COPE and ANC supporteres clashing. The event was scheduled to be held at the Rhodes General Lecture Theatre which proved to be an unwise choice as it was too small to host the number of people that were expected to come. Students and lecturers alike were left stranded outside the venue as the GLT was filled to capacity. As journalist, we also found it difficult to get inside with security being very stringent on the amount of people allowed into the venue. We eventually did get inside because we pitched up quiet early and decided to set up our camera befoe the evnet had got under way.

Filming inside the actual venue was a diffucult process. We knew the venue would be packed with people: students, lecturers, journalists of all the kinds. There was hardly a clear space to even set up our tripod to get the visulas we wanted for the story. There was a constant movement of people up and down the aisles and people dancing everywhere, that getting good, quality visuals became quite tricky. The great thing though about a small venue with many people is the feeling of being close to the action. You are able to concentrate on indivulas as well as the group with ease. There was hardly a person we were unable to talk to. Everyone was accessible.

The man of the hour however, the one everyone had come to see, was a no-show. There were rumours swirling around that he had done this before on other campuses. There would be advertisements plugging his arrival, only for him not to show up. This had happened at UCT and UKZN, and many students were not surprised that he did not pitch. The fact that he did not come then became the story angle. It was just as juicy a story as one had he pitched. the various parties that were bringing various excuses as too why he was not there also proved interesting, with Rhodes admin and the ANC having a go at each other about him not arriving.

The final story proved to dfficult to edit as various subplots within the story could have been further expolored: the protest by the GAP members, the young dance group that encouraged people to vote for the ANC, the talk given by Young Commiunist League General Secretary, Bhuti Manamela, the small venue which left many disappointed people still waiting outside… I could go on. But ultimately the focus was on the non-arrival of Malema which proved to be the big selling point.

Isn’t it just great when you have friends partaking in controversial activities?  This is what i thought at first…A group of boys who i know, were scheduled to have their digs formal.  We negotiated at length until they agreed to let me film the beginning of their formal.  In true Rhodes style (and may i reiterate that this is a male digs!) they called me about half an hour before i was set to shoot, to cancel!  Their excuse was that their dates (who had been procured at the last minute) felt uncomfortable being filmed. 

So rushed phonecalls were made and i managed to secure another digs formal shoot on the same night!  And it turned out to be a success-we got great footage.  Everything happens for a reason…

Check out this short description from an anonymous source about the theme of a digs formal:

Watch this short video, from the same source, which talks about the games played:

Here is some footage on the actual digs formal.  Our camera was on while the ladies were setting up.  This snippet shows them blowing up condoms and putting in little cards which detail a game to be played (by the person who pops the balloon).  We had to step in to help them…taking journalism to a new level…

And last, but not least, a look at how they prepared their punch.  It seems even though it didn’t taste that great, it was consumed!

If there’s one thing that most people have in common other than breathing, it’s their dislike for queues. I am one such person. To start of my day I need a shot of caffeine. Now, waiting in a queue for over 15 minutes when my body is aching for coffee, is not what I consider acceptable. After numerous occasions of having to brace the blazing sun outside Rhodes’ popular meeting spot, the Kaif, to get my coffee, I was getting annoyed. At first it did not occur to me that it wasn’t just that people where getting hungry or thirsty at the same time (hence the long queues), but rather that there were just more people at my university this year.

The situation continued to get out of hand when the dining hall queues grew to unimaginable proportions and the popular book store ran out of books within the first two weeks of term. Okay, first I have to starve while waiting for food in the dining hall, then I have to dehydrate while shaking for my morning dose of coffee, then there are no books for me to use to take notes! Something had to be done. One would think that the situation could not have gotten worse, but after having arrived late for a lecture (because I was waiting for my vital dose of coffee) I found that there were no seats available so I had to sit on the floor. Instead of extending my upper lip at the situation, I got thinking. Together with a class mate of mine, we investigated the reasons why the university was suddenly over populated. Had we missed a baby boom that had caused the influx of bodies onto our campus? Or where more people suddenly addicted to coffee and morning lectures?

During our investigation, this is what we discovered: The reason there were more people on campus was because of the new high school curriculum that allowed for more university entries than in previous years.  (Ahh, that why everybody was looking so young!) Because of this, more first years had flocked to the university and increased its numbers by 10%. This explained many things: more first means bigger lecture venues, so, older students had to use the smaller venues for their classes. This explained people having to sit on the floor and the long queues in the dining hall and the Kaif.

 So if that the case, then surely there should have been infrastructure or at least a plan to accommodate all these new people. This thought led us to a University official who explained what was been done to make us all feel comfortable. As it so happened the university was extending its library and two new residences have been built. Furthermore, the university is planning to be stricter on its acceptance of new students to avoid this overcrowding in future.

In case you’re sitting there thinking I’m just a grouchy coffee overdosed student who has suddenly realised that there are people around me, but alas! Judge thee not! I have proof, check out this article on the topic of overcrowding:

Read the Activate article