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exemption. In 2011 they also received a record number of
distinctions: 143 plus five distinctions for Maths Paper 3.
Four learners obtained seven distinctions and another two
obtained six. Pupils are selected from the local townships
on the basis of their aptitude in mathematics and science.
The success of the school is attributed to the support from
staff, students, learners and the Gauteng Department of
Education. Extra-curricular activities such as choir, chess,
debate and drama productions are also offered.
The Funda UJabule School is another successful project
from this faculty, and as a training/research school is unique
in its aim and functioning. It does, however, not only focus
on training, but also serves the surrounding community of
Soweto in terms of childhood education. Last year, 163
learners were enrolled in the school, serving as a training
school for 187 first year and 55 second year BEd students
from UJ. The Service-Learning components that the
Faculty provides aim to foster a sense of social and civic
responsibility in students, while at the same time preparing
them to become caring, accountable and critically reflective
practitioners.
moved by the overwhelming generosity of their hosts against
a backdrop of material deprivation and extreme poverty, in a
community where unemployment is estimated at 95%.
Other developments
No CE report is complete without the mention that Phumani
Papers (UJ's flagship project) has found a new home.
Originally run by FADA, the project, which represents one of
the largest active community engagement programmes at
UJ, has been taken over by the Faculty of Humanities. The
Faculty lends financial, infrastructure and human resource
support to the project. Phumani Papers is a Johannesburgbased NGO that focuses on the empowerment of women
through entrepreneurship in rural areas, manufacturing a
variety of paper projects on the cutting edge of handmade
paper technologies, and is the only producer of archival
paper in South Africa.
UJ Law Clinics
Faculty of Art and Design (FADA)
Community service and good citizenship are integral to the
Faculty's teaching programmes, and nowhere could this be
seen as clearly as when the students and staff became
involved in HaMakuya, a Venda chieftaincy situated near the
Zimbabwean border and the Kruger National Park – a
national poverty node. Basic infrastructure is sorely lacking
and service delivery is low, with communal taps that often
only supply water once a week. This the students learned
when they arrived to participate in home-stays and take part
in the daily activities of the households. Students introduced
three methods of social change via visual methodologies
into the community, namely Paper Prayers, Photovoice and
collaborative mural-making.
Paper Prayers, a nation-wide HIV/AIDS campaign, uses
simple print-making techniques to encourage individuals to
express their emotions about loss and illness. These
workshops have proved to be an effective method of
communicating about HIV/AIDS and of bringing about
sexual and behavioural change through artistic methods.
The UJ Law Clinics, run by the Faculty of Law, celebrated its
30th birthday in 2011. As the cherry on the proverbial birthday
cake, it opened its flagship clinic in Soweto, in a building that
was specifically upgraded for this purpose. The modern and
upbeat Law Clinic serves the less-affluent community of the
greater Soweto area where there is a massive need for legal
advice and assistance. By working in the clinic, students get
a better idea of how a practice is run and how the processes
work and interlink. For the first time in their lives, they are
confronted with real cases – with faces attached to them.
They learn to take the theory from the classroom to the
practice. The students working on cases are assessed by a
professional lawyer on a weekly basis. When all the leg work
has been done, he takes the case to court. Unfortunately the
amount of prospective clients still overshadows the amount
of cases that can be taken on due to a lack of manpower and
qualified lawyers working on a pro bono basis.
Soweto Science Centre
Learners, with help from the UJ students, created bright and
beautiful murals that celebrated their dreams and
aspirations towards a better future.
One of the highlights at the Soweto Science Centre, under the
Faculty of Science, was the mobile science laboratory
acquired through a sponsorship by the Department of Science
and Technology. This development allows the Science Centre
to provide the necessary hands-on learning experience in the
fields of experimental sciences to learners in schools that do
not have the necessary laboratory facilities, suddenly bringing
to life subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, geography and
IT. The aim is to bridge the gap between high school and
university science, training the future scientists and engineers
that South Africa desperately needs.
The HaMakuya experience left the students filled with
admiration and respect for the way in which the Venda people
continue to live under such challenging conditions. They were
The Office of Community Engagement had an exciting and
productive 2011. It has shown that it does not only talk the
talk; they also walk the walk of Care, Share and Involve.
Photovoice uses photographs made by community
members to stimulate the expression of their personal
narratives. Collaborative mural-making lends itself to
democratised art practice because of the ease with which
community participation can be facilitated.
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UJ Community Engagement Office