Mmegi

The school turnaround

A school turnaround programme may be a mammoth, rigorous, energy sapping movement but it is not an insurmountable and impossible mission. More often than not, chronically low achieving schools with a history of stagnation and declining achievement levels do not consider a school turnaround mission possible.

The problems do not stem from the difficulty of managing a turnaround programme. It comes mainly from negative energy. Mission impossible is motivated by a wrong assumption based on fears of the unknown and lack of faith in the competencies and abilities of teachers and their students. A school turnaround is possible and can be accomplished within the set gestation period of three years.

The myth that needs to be corrected and wiped off is the thinking that a school turnaround is a geographically bound programme that can only thrive and prosper in certain areas and fail to take off in other geographical jurisdictions. The truth of the matter is that the school turnaround principles are universally applicable from the most developed and affluent town settings to the least developed, humble economically deprived circumstances.

Editor's Comment
Medicine before ConCourt

Yet, while this crisis ravages the communities, the administration is championing a major, resource-intensive legal reform and the establishment of a dedicated Constitutional Court. While the principle of strengthening constitutional justice is commendable, the timing is profoundly misplaced. When the President himself admits the government coffers are limited, every thebe and every moment of political capital must be directed towards the...

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