Overview of site visits – Durban, April
2015
Durban Botanic Gardens
Originally developed as a botanic station, in 1849, the Durban Botanic Garden is Africa’s
oldest botanic garden. In 1851 the Botanic Garden was relocated from the edge of the Berea
Ridge to its present site in the centre of town. It covers approximately 15 hectares and is the
City’s oldest public institution. The Botanic Garden has a collection of cycads, palms,
orchids, bromeliads, a selection of trees from all over the world, eighty heritage trees as well
as exotic and indigenous plants. Educational programmes include curriculum-based school
guided programmes, permaculture courses, school greening, environmental education and
public lectures. In addition, the Botanic Garden has research programmes which include: the
Stangeria project; Sandstone Sourveld research programme; City Micropropagation
Laboratory; KZN Herbarium; UKZN Department of Life Sciences; Cycads.
Host: Mr Thevan Henry (Durban Museums Coordinator) 0832598301
New City Library Site
The eThekwini Municipality is in the process of building a new city library at Centrum site
opposite the Workshop Shopping Centre. The new library will provide for a larger book
collection, tactile books, additional meeting and study rooms, a cultural and performance
space and areas for computers and other emerging technologies. Presently there is a mobile
container in the Gugu Dlamini Park overlooking the Centrum site. Staff at the container
gather information through surveys on user needs and promote the new City Library.
Delegates attending the GELP event will visit the site and learn about the new library. They
will also get to view a mobile library and a mobile museum.
Host: Mr Thevan Henry (Durban Museums Coordinator) 0832598301
KwaMuhle Museum
Located in the city of Durban, the KwaMuhle Museum tells the story of the Municipal Native
Affairs Department and the Durban System. The Municipal Native Affairs Department was
established in 1916, with John Sydney Marwick as its first manager. Marwick had been given
the name “uMuhle” by Zulu migrants. He had successfully repatriated 7000 Zulus from
Johannesburg back to the Colony Natal in 1899. The Department was responsible for
administering the Durban System, a form of urban control and “native” administration”.
Elements of the Durban System include the issuing of passbooks, municipality gaining a
monopoly on the production of traditional beer (umqombothi), the creation of beer halls and
African accommodation. The “Spirit of Reconciliation” can be found in the museum. Rooms
in the museum have been named after people who worked for the Municipal Native Affairs
Department and implement the Durban System and those who resisted. The courtyard with
the sculpture ”Shadows of the Past”, the mural and the Zulu medicine garden articulate
South Africa’s journey from the periods of segregation and apartheid to democracy. The Zulu
medicine garden is symbolic of reconciliation. Current exhibitions include: The Durban
System; Ethekwini Living Legends Exhibition; Andrew Zondo Why I did it and the 1913
Natives Land Act.
Host: Mr Thevan Henry (Durban Museums Coordinator) 0832598301
Kwamashu Education Centres : e-learning kiosks
The Pinetown Education District, north of Durban, is participating in the Programme to
Improve Learner Outcomes (PILO). The Programme is assisting the District to pilot a best
practice model for education in the Province, and ultimately nationwide. One of the
innovative intervention has been the installation of e-Learning Kiosks in the District’s two
Education Centres at Hammarsdale and KwaMashu.
Briefly the e- Learning kiosk can be likened to an educational content vending machine. It
comes preloaded with educational content that assists the teacher and the student to access
content and enhance their performance. The kiosk has built-in Wi-Fi which covers a 30-40
km radius range. It can play videos, DVDs and information is downloadable using USBs and
CDs. Teachers can also use this facility to share notes with experts and amongst
themselves. It is a scalable educational device that can go a long away in making up for
insufficient learning and teaching resources and library facilities in a school or learning
community.
Host: Ms Joanne Gouws (Centre Manager) 031 509 4412/ 078 803 3852
Rietvallei Senior Secondary School: Science Cart
Rietvallei Senior Secondary School is located on the outskirts of Durban in an area called
Inchanga. The school services a seriously indigent community and 98% of its learner
population survives on State grants. Although the school is under- resourced it has, over the
past 4 years, achieved an average pass rate of 90% in terms of the National Senior
Certificate/ Matriculation. A contributing factor to this success is a partnership initiative that
the school initiated with Vodacom. Through the partnership the school has acquired a Smart
Lab Science Cart which compensates for the poorly resourced Science Laboratory in the
school. The Smart Lab Science Cart is mobile and can move from one class to another
thereby providing every class in the school with a science lab.
Smart Science Cart
The Smart Science Cart is a cost-effective and mobile solution to the absence of a
laboratory or funds to establish one. The Cart provides an integrative approach to teaching
science and includes equipment as well as technology. It can easily be stored away when
not used, or moved from class to class as needed.
Smart Labs initially started manufacturing the Science Cart after they recognised a need in
both public and private schools for a simple solution that would empower the science
teacher to effectively teach the subject in an engaging and interactive way. Being able to
witness experiments being performed in front of them and seeing the outcomes first hand,
aids the recall and memory on the subject matter of students.
Smart Labs’s Science Cart is a self-contained teaching platform from which the teacher can
illustrate experiments. The integrated audio and visual components are used to present
animated or pre-recorded experiments in a safe and comfortable environment. The Science
Cart allows schools to integrate the advantages of technology into the classroom in a costeffective way. The Science Cart comes with a combination of life science and science
equipment.
Host: Mr Eric Gyebi (Science Educator) 084 9831842
Hammarsdale Education Centre: Ecological Centre
An Education Centre is an educational facility of the Department of Education. It is a
standalone institution that renders expanded learning opportunities to students outside of the
school environment. The Education Centre caters for both in and out of school youth and
provides a supportive environment to teachers and learners.
Hammersdale Education Centre, through its partnership with Durban Solid Waste, has
established an Ecological Centre. This facility benefits learners and the community and
provides information and skills on nature conservation. The Ecological Centre serves as a
science laboratory where learners and the community can learn about water saving
methods, water recycling and gardening processes. They learn how to generate electricity
using bio-digest processes which may be a long-term solution to the energy crisis currently
being experienced by the country. Students are empowered to use natural resources to
generate energy and food.
Host: Ms Nonhlanhla Jele (Centre Manager) 031 771 2860/ 0733970329
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA): Information and Communication
Technology as a Teaching Tool
Flowing from a Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the KwaZulu-Natal
Department of Education and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (“PRASA”), the
latter has partnered with Intel Education, Kolok, Rail Cell and Sapient, to bring a full,
contemporary ICT educational solution to South African schools.
The solution includes teacher and student-specific access devices (laptops and tablets),
charging trolleys for devices, SMART boards, projectors, classroom management software
and curriculum content. The solution will also facilitate school connectivity, Wi-Fi
infrastructure as well as learner and teacher development in computer skills.
A proof of concept reference school has been established at the Durban School for the
Hearing Impaired in Amanzimtoti, south of Durban. PRASA will provide connectivity through
its fibre optic network infrastructure which is placed at railway stations (the school has to be
in range of the railway station to pick up connectivity). A special needs school was selected
as this will be the first of this kind of school to be set up for e-learning and will be used as a
case study for the whole of Africa.
As a proof of concept school the school will continue to receive teacher development until
teachers are able to fully utilise the technology as a teaching tool on a daily basis and will
avail themselves to showcase to other prospective schools.
Visitors will be able to see the full solution live and in action and this will also give rise to an
opportunity to receive feedback from the users.
Host: Ms Tracey Kennedy (Retail Account Manager) [email protected]
Open Air School
“93 years of excellence in education for learners with physical impairments" (1921 – 2015)
Open Air School plays a vital role in educating physically challenged youngsters,
empowering them to become independent, well-adjusted people, contributing to the
enrichment of South African society. The school is the platform on which children shine, as
they are prepared to become global citizens who can change the world.
Open Air School is located in the suburb of Glenwood in Durban. This government school is
classified as an LSEN (Learners with Special Educational Needs) school and, as such,
requires additional funding. It caters for approximately 279 learners, from pre-primary to
grade 12, providing education to children with Special Educational Needs. A hostel
accommodates those who live in outlying rural areas. Learners come from a range of social
and economic backgrounds.Embracing the school motto, "I can and I will", the learners
persevere and many go on to excel in academics, sports and cultural activities. Open Air
School boasts present and past learners who have gone on to compete provincially,
nationally and internationally in various sporting codes.
The levels of disability range from mild to severe and include for example cerebral palsy,
visual and hearing impairment, impairments suffered as a result of an injury, and hand/eye
co-ordination problems. The school provides a variety of therapies, including psychological,
speech, physio and occupational therapies, while four professional nurses provide medical
support. Learners follow a normal academic curriculum, with educators employing innovative
and imaginative methods to adapt to the diverse needs of the learners. Instruction is in
English. Learners can choose either Afrikaans or Zulu for their second language option.
Skills-based training classes are also offered.
Learners are given various extracurricular opportunities. In the field of paraplegic sport,
many learners have received provincial colours in athletics, swimming, table tennis, boccia
and wheelchair basketball and two learners received national colours for wheelchair
bastketball in 2012. There is an active Interact Club, which aims to serve the community in
the true spirit of Rotary, the Left Feet First Dance group and a choir.
Host: Mr Noel Moodley (Principal) 031 205 1277