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FSDoE praises inclusive education on UFS South Campus

15 July 2019 | Story Eugene Seegers | Photo Eugene Seegers

Chris Grobler, Eunice Qwelane, Bob Tladi, and Elmien Retief on the UFS South Campus during the Monyetla Bursary Project’s Winter School.

Three members of the Free State Department of Education (FSDoE) recently visited the UFS South Campus to see an example of inclusive education at work: The Monyetla Bursary Project’s sixth Winter School. Monyetla means ‘opportunity’ in Sesotho. We spoke to Bob Tladi (Chief Director: Education Development and Support, FSDoE), Eunice Qwelane (Director: Inclusive and Special-Needs Education, FSDoE), Elmien Retief (Acting CES, Inclusive and Special-Needs Education, FSDoE), and Chris Grobler (Director: Monyetla Bursary Project) to find out why this year’s programme was of special interest to the province’s Department of Education.

According to Eunice Qwelane, the special area of interest for her department was the hard-of-hearing and deaf Grade 12 learners from Bartimea School in Thaba Nchu. She says the Winter School is “an opportunity for these disabled learners to be integrated into the broader school community. For them, it is also a step of progressive development towards their future, as well as preparation for tertiary education.” She adds that it is also an opportunity for them to receive excellent tuition. “Monyetla’s Winter School at the UFS South Campus ensures that subjects are taught by the best possible educators.”

Chris Grobler mentions that additional opportunities were created for these learners to interact with hearing learners. During their time off at the cafeteria or during breaks, they can play games and get to know one another. Hearing learners were also taught basic greetings in South African Sign Language (SASL) and were encouraged to interact with deaf students as much as possible.

He adds: “There is a need for administrators to develop and widen their thinking. Schools that attend the Winter School are from all over the province, not only Motheo District in the Free State. Even more than that, learners visit from all over the country — from the North-West, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern, Western and Northern Cape — because we have built a reputation here. As the University of the Free State, we are doing good towards ALL. It is a compliment for the Free State Department of Education and the university.”

Eunice Qwelane concludes: “We really appreciate what the UFS is doing, because within the department we do not have winter camps that cater for visually or hearing-impaired learners. The university, in collaboration with the Monyetla Bursary Project, is solving an existing problem and bridging a gap in the system. It is an inspiration for these learners, because they can move away from isolation. This is inclusivity at its best and inclusivity in action that the UFS is bringing to us as a department, and we really appreciate that.”

Other services rendered at Winter School

1) Help learners apply to UFS (feeder programme of matrics for UFS in collaboration with Schools Partnership Project at South Campus)
2) NBT application assistance
3) Funding opportunities, application assistance
4) Job shadowing / internships, partnerships with companies and sponsors
5) South African Sign Language (SASL) interpreting at Computer Lab
6) Simoné Hendricks: SASL Specialist interprets SASL in Maths and Accounting
7) D6 School Communicator — download teaching resources used during Winter School

Winter and Saturday Schools: Facts

2007: Saturday School started with 300 learners and five subjects
2019: This has grown to 1 500 learners and 15 subjects in 2019
2008-2011: Gr 12 learners express a need for further opportunities to improve their skills in key subjects such as Maths, English, Science, and Computer Literacy
2012: Winter School is started by Monyetla Bursary Project, with the aim of linking corporate sponsors with deserving underprivileged learners
2019: Winter School has now grown to be a multi-province drawcard to the UFS South Campus

News Archive

Regional Conference on Trafficking in Human Beings

2007-06-29

Trafficking in Human Beings:
National and International Perspectives

Date: 17th August 2007
Address: CR Swart Auditorium, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Every year thousands of children and adults become victims of trafficking and abuse in South Africa and throughout the southern African region. Victims are trafficked for a myriad of reasons: sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography; illegal labour, including child conscription; domestic servitude; illegal adoptions; body parts/organs; and forced marriages.

The Unit for Children’s Rights, Department of Criminal and Medical Law, University of the Free State (UFS), together with the Centre for Continuing Legal Education at UFS, will host a Regional Conference on Trafficking in Human Beings. The conference will bring together key role-players from the South African government as well as crucial international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the region.

Trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, is a serious violation of the human rights of the victims, as well as an extremely profitable source of income to organized crime, and needs the attention and intervention of both governmental and non-governmental institutions in South Africa.

Speakers will include representatives from the United National Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the South African Law Reform Commission, the Unit for Children’s Rights-UFS, and NGOs Molo Songololo and Terre Des Homes, that work with child trafficking victims in South Africa and around the world.

The media are invited to report on the conference, and interview speakers and presenters Attached find programme. For more info contact the following persons.

1. Beatri Kruger - 051 401 2108 / email: krugerh.rd@mail.ufs.ac.za
2. Susan Kreston - 051 401 9562 / email: krestons.rd@mail.ufs.ac.za
3. Elizabeth Snyman – 051 401 2268 / email: snymane.rd@mail.ufs.ac.za

Programme

Trafficking in human beings:
National & international perspectives

Presented by The Unit for Children’s Rights, Department Of Criminal & Medical Law , Faculty of Law, in Conjunction with The Centre for Continuing Legal Education, University of the Free State.

Funded through the Generosity of the United States Department of State

17 AUGUST, 2007 – CR SWART AUDITORIAM

8:00-8:30 Registration & Tea
8:30-8:45 Opening & Welcome
Prof. JJ Henning, Faculty of Law
8:45-9:40 Overview & Global Perspective
Prof. Susan Kreston - Unit for Children’s Rights, Faculty of Law-UFS

9:40-10:00 TEA

10:00-10:45 International Perspectives & the Role of Organized Crime in Trafficking
Wiesje Zikkenheiner, Associate Expert
United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, Pretoria
10:45-11:45 Identifying and Assisting Victims of Trafficking
Marija Nikolovska, Project Officer
International Organization for Migration, Pretoria

11:45-12:30 LUNCH

12:30-1:15 Prosecuting Trafficking Without Trafficking Laws
Adv. Nolwandle Qaba, Sexual Offences & Community Affairs Unit
National Prosecuting Authority, Pretoria
1:15-2:15 Recommendations for New Legislation in South Africa
Lowesa Stuurman - South African Law Reform Commission, Pretoria

2:15-2:30 TEA

2:30-2:50 The Role of Terre Des Homes in Fighting Trafficking in Children
Judith Mthombeni– Terre Des Homes, Pretoria
2:50-3:50 Trafficking in Children in South Africa – A Front Line Perspective
Patrick Solomon - Molo Songololo, Cape Town
3:50-4:00 Closing Remarks
Adv. Beatri Kruger
Department of Criminal & Medical Law - UFS

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