7 Jan 2012

Looking forward to 2012 - A candle or a raging flame?

Looking forward to 2012 - A candle or a raging flame?

I wish you the best of compassion that you can muster and hope that 2012 will be your best ever yet, your 212 degrees that will make you reach the upper limits of your potential and then some more. Please watch Waiting for Superman, Trevor Manual's video Thandi's story and 500 years later.

The next 10 years or so are my legacy years, I hope. Naturally I want to reflect if I have pushed the cause of disenfranchised children and young people to any decent level at all. Death is not a big deal for me, has never been. We all die one day – fact.

The other day a dear friend said that I ought to dim my candle sometimes as it blinds some people. My dear friend – Candles are for romantic dinners. I am not a candle. I am a raging flame who is constantly burning to destroy such awful travesties of the past so that new generations can truly regain their spirit and live bright and smart. My raging burning flame question has always been, do we live a credible life, do we pass on that most incredible and important resource, education, appropriately to future generations. Schumacher, 1973

I have spent a fair bit of time reminding myself of EXACTLY HOW slavery, colonialism and apartheid were instigated and maintained for so long and how children and young people suffered during these very cruel, ugly, orchestrated and oppressive times so that a few could gain wealth, position and power justified by pseudoscience, economics, mathematics and religion. All of these were used to keep so many oppressors and land owners in luxury positions & justify racism and sexism that embedded itself endemically into many a population. There were six separate documentaries on DSTV channels on the 16th December, the Gallows documentary during apartheid being one of them. The greatest paradox was how slaves became slave owners themselves. Spirits were destroyed and humans were made into property for the simple reason of colour. My generation knows, my generation has felt it in their bones. In India there is a caste system that is oppressive no matter what your perspective. Did you know that the Sanskrit word for caste is VARANA – meaning order, nature, type or colour?

And then I brought myself to the present day. Young Black Africans still do not have access to education that will turn the tide and allow them to think and feel fresh and independent, in control and joyful of their own future. As I am simplifying my life in my autumn years, I want to simplify the root cause of oppression and one word comes to mind, Greed. The solution therefore is equally simple, Compassion. Often I say to my grand-daughter, there are only two things that enrich and fulfil the human potential, intensive education and raging compassion for the disenfranchised. She understands education but not compassion. Not yet.

One of my staff's targets is to get their partners and children to visit the schools that we work in so that the circle of influence grows. I hope my donors and partners will do the same.

Have a great 2012 & much loving kindness,

Sharanjeet

Sharanjeet Shan (Ms)
CEO: Maths Centre Incorporating Sciences
Cell: 0835555622
PA: Malepe; 0112768214.
Fax: 0112768243
28 Juta Street. Braamfontein.
PO BOX 117 - Auckland Park.
Johannesburg. South Africa

5 Dec 2011

blog

A winning equation: Watched the NPC video flight of the summary of the National Planning Commission http://www.youtube.com/user/NPCZA.   I am convinced more than ever before that finding a solution for the 600000 plus learners is not rocket science. It does however, need strength of willpower, total non-negotiable conviction that the children and the young of this country do not need band aid but clear strategies for accessing what is available and then working on how to move forward with their lives. I am also of the belief that unless we truly honour, respect, care for the young and instigate a solution TODAY for the future generations, we are sitting with numbers of unemployable youngsters increasing exponentially. Maths Centre has designed a very powerful, engaging and innovative artisans bridging course coupled with entrepreneurship education to give youngsters hope, direction, guidance, mentoring and a clear way forward. At the same time the throughout stream into engineering will begin to come right. Correct education and economics are the only imperatives for a nation's development. At what point do we stop researching, talking, strategising, organising, planning and actually do? The young are willing to participate in turning the tide in their own favour. Are we? The disjuncture between business and education needs to come to an end.  I would like to be given a chance to explain the Maths Centre model to the National Planning Commission in an appropriate setting. More of us who can lend a hand, better it is. Please help if you can.

20 Apr 2011

mathsinspire 3

Engineering brighter futures in my South Africa

Critical and Scarce Skills Initiative amongst the youth in South Africa

 

My place in South Africa is constructed around being a teacher of Maths, Science and Technology. I have rarely ventured outside of this. My mind is always busy concocting solutions for the desperate situation that the young people are in.

 

Be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi said. Being a Gandhian, essentially Sufi in nature, that comes easy.

 

This blog is a proposed solution.

Children and young people love technology. Why not use this fact to put our young learners on the path to success and a brighter future. This is particularly easy to do in the cities.

 

Young people living in the inner cities have tremendous competitive advantages in a growing economy. Inner cities have established and growing sectors over a long period of time with comparative advantage. There is further procurement advantage within potential and emergent green economy. Vibrant, highly absorbing foundation courses can easily be developed within Mathematics, Science and Technology related fundamental unit standards for artisans industry courses.

                               

Youth who are categorized as NEIT, not in employment and not in education and training can be given a wide open window of opportunity which would interest, encourage and inspire young people to pass artisans courses and join the world of work. These are decent workplace skills which will bring together supply and demand.

 

There are literally 1000s of skills required in South Africa. Possibilities are endless. Metal fitters and machinists, Millwrights and mechatronics, Motor mechanics, Panel beaters, and vehicle body builders, Plastics and rubber production machine operators, Metal manufacturing machine setters and minders to name but a few.

 

Maths Centre objectives of CRISSIE are to build a record of achievement and attainment around summative national certification achievement as well as focused practical activities centred around engineering concepts from various sectors. These will be constructed around bridging the gaps amongst the school leavers in knowledge and skills.

 

Maths Centre will provide counseling, guidance, individual action plans, and opportunities to progress to higher levels of achievement.

Desired outcomes are to work towards an increase in numbers of young school leavers getting admission in FET colleges and take up various artisan courses in manufacturing industry and succeed.

This will increase numbers of students genuinely taking up artisan courses and careers and improve industry and business confidence in artisans coming out with learnerships.

It is a sure way to redress/correct the damage done in the current education system as far as Science, Maths and the teaching of Technology and the contextual literacy with regards each aforementioned learning area.

 

The programme focus is on integration and holistic understanding of how Maths, Science and Technology come together to engineer industry throughout the world. Maths Centre Engineering Kit for artisans  industries implements activities and tasks to promote linkages of Maths, Science and Technology to engineering skills. A Record of achievement with carefully chosen work experience in industry will give young learners a substantive capability to plan their own life.

 

Engineering Ambassadors and Awards programme will bring engineering experts in direct contact with the youth in a very meaningful manner. Awards will provide motivation required. A purpose built Engineering skills development lab will bring alive an interactive understanding of complex software. Making personalized models adding meaning to their understanding of how things work and to actually use them in daily life. The benefits for industry and our country are unlimited.  Engineers will have an opportunity to project career role models that the youth can emulate through visits, talks etc.

 

There are additional benefits for various industry sectors, contributing to the achievements of young people, gives a structure and a purpose to involvement of engineers and artisans, gives meaning to private/public partnerships in a visible manner.

Business could sow the seeds of change that will turn the tide of unemployment in South Africa.

 

I would love to talk to Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet or anyone who is willing to support the upliftment of young through decent work opportunities.

 

 
Sharanjeet Shan (Ms)
CEO: Maths Centre Incorporating Sciences
Cell: 0835555622
PA: Malepe; 0112768214.
Fax: 0112768243
28 Juta Street. Braamfontein.
PO BOX 117 - Auckland Park.
Johannesburg. South Africa
20 Mar 2011

Mathsinspire an effort to resuscitate a lost system 2

Schools –A missed opportunity

The tragedy of under-estimating majority learner potential in South Africa

 

A large majority of South African school going learners cannot access learning in the classroom, which their counterparts in the suburbs of all major cities take for granted. Why is this inequality of access embedding itself so deep in our schools? Many politicians in recent times have claimed that they are aware of this very grave danger to our fledgling democracy. Between 600000 and 700000 learners drop out at Grade 9 or before and cannot access any further studies.

Society does come face to face with the consequences of this neglect daily. All of us have been victims of violence at some time in our lives or know someone who has. Surely, crime becomes an option when the young have no tools to lead a productive life.

 

During December and January there is an explosion of articles about the declining Matric results in Maths and Science. Business and industry cries out for all the engineers, doctors, architects, artisans and accountants it needs. Fingers of blame, pointed at every level of bureaucracy and society that you can imagine negate each other, no one really taking clear responsibility. These tiresome and broken record debates cannot offer any solutions as they are located into the end product and not the process that has gone on for 11 years prior to Grade 12. Why is there such little debate on education from February to November?

 

The classroom, the school, the supposed hub of learning and teaching for all the years prior to Matric examinations deserves a detailed scrutiny. Why do we continue to accept our young impressionable children to receive such a distorted version of a learning space which is nothing but a cauldron of misery, mistrust, boredom, confusion and conflict?

 

Is there really any sensible reason or argument in favour of teacher absenteeism, late coming and ill preparedness? No amount of debate about such poor professional behaviour and performance will make matters come right? In service teacher training needs to be enforced as a corrective and restorative strategy. This should be followed by sanctions and measures demanding accountability and responsibility. There should be a strong, enforced legal movement to reform classroom practice in so many of our disadvantaged schools?

 

Why do teachers object to measures of accountability and responsibility?  

I am convinced that a much higher number of learners could have succeeded in obtaining top levels in Mathematics and Science, had it not been for strike-related incidents in conjunction with established blockage practices within schools that are counter-productive to learners' growth and development.

 

Many examples from around the country demonstrate that given an extra focus on every single learning gap that learners bring to Grade 12, can be corrected, understanding and learning restored and they subsequently achieve levels 7, 6 and 5 in the final examinations. The very serious consequence of this conflict of performance in grades is that learners do not apply for bursaries in Grade 11, as their Grade 11 test marks do not give them any confidence to succeed. As they did not apply for bursaries in time, what can learners do in the year that follows? Many are without bursaries and no jobs. The odds get stacked against them, as many more learners will be competing for bursaries the following year.

 

The cold fact is that the public schools must feel like battlegrounds to youngsters who do not have anyone championing their cause. Teachers, the humble workers who should be valued the most, flounder in a sea of administrative difficulties that appear ready to attack them like crocodiles in a swamp.

 

This is indeed a tragedy in the making. We cannot remain a nation so distracted that we do not see the status quo in education as a crisis. Can we not see that our collective future and our collective present are at stake?

 

In his beautiful book, Daring to be a Teacher, Robin Richardson reminds us of the very destructive illusion within which all human beings trap themselves, as set out in a dialogue from the very ancient great Indian epic Mahabharata:

 

Voice:           And what is the greatest marvel on Earth?

Yudhistra:      Each day death strikes and we live as though we were immortal. This is what is the greatest marvel.

 

Under such clouds of despair, how does education play its true role, a system that transforms the young into citizens of the near future? This will only take place if teachers can create a home in a classroom in which learners learn, grow and develop, buffered against the criminal inequalities in their daily lives, in the pursuit of an anti-poverty state of being. Let every teacher champion their classroom, every parent their children, every grandparent their grandchildren with love, strong discipline and care, no matter what it takes. It is these three players who hold the key to cause a revolution that will address the plight of our young people of tomorrow.
 
Sharanjeet Shan (Ms)
CEO: Maths Centre Incorporating Sciences
5 Mar 2011

Mathsinspire an effort to resuscitate a lost system

So much has been written about the declining Matric results in South Africa. Blame, pointed at every level of bureaucracy and society that you can imagine has had its sell by date and it stinks. Or someone should state clearly how long must we wait before we can expect a vibrant, dynamic education system that would truly transform our society and enable young people to find their rightful place. At what point would South African education system begin to work in favour of the majority. These debates are very tiresome and futuristic rarely producing any solutions for this generation of school going children. I would rather get back to very basics, the classroom, the hub of learning and teaching. Why do we continue to agree and accept our young impressionable children to receive such a distorted version of a learning space. Is there really any sensible reason or argument in favour of teacher absenteeism, latecoming and illpreparedness? Do we really need a debate about such poor professional behaviour and performance? There should rather be measures and sanctions. Why is this inequality of access embedding itself so deep in our schools? Many politicians in recent times have claimed that they are aware of this very grave danger to our fledgling democracy. In that case should there not be a strong, enforced legal movement to reform classroom practice in so many of our disadvantaged schools?   Sharanjeet Shan (Ms)
CEO: Maths Centre Incorporating Sciences

Sharanjeet Shan's Space

Born in India, Sharanjeet Shan spent her adult life in England, studying, working and writing, her education interrupted often. Her mathematics, science and technology teaching and management career spans various levels over a period of 30 years. In 1995, Sharanjeet was invited to South Africa to lead the Maths Centre. It is an accredited national organisation and runs Maths, Science, Technology, ECD and Entrepreneurship education projects.

Sharanjeet’s writings include an autobiography ‘In My Own Name’ in 1985 and ‘Multiple Factors, Classroom mathematics for Equality and Justice’ in 1990. Sharanjeet Shan is inspired by Sufi music, Guru Nanak’s teachings, Einstein, Deepak Chopra and her grand-daughter.

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