Forty-four high schools from the Garden Route area including local schools from George, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay; and also from areas much further afield such as Stellenbosch, Worcester, Morreesburg, Bredasdorp, Riversdal, Mooirivier, Nelspruit, Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth, were determined to "discover their dreams" at the Open Day. Learners from South Cape College also attended the event in groups, while individual visitors came from as far as Gauteng.
Dr Tulsi Morar, Acting Director of the School for Initial Education, addressed the audience at an educators network breakfast on Saturday morning. Dr Morar focused on the challenge of preparing learners for higher education and encouraged teachers to bring the world into the classroom. "We also need to take the classroom into the world and tools like the iPad and other tablets enables learners and teachers to study and lecture anywhere."
The networking breakfast also served to acknowledge the George Campus' top partner schools for 2012. The following schools were identified: Hoërskool Outeniqua (George), York High School (George), Hoërskool Punt (Mossel Bay), Maritzburg College (Pietermaritzburg), Glenwood House (private school in George) and Imizamo Yethu Secondary School (George). Imizamo Yethu was specifically applauded for the significant progress the school had made by increasing its matric pass rate from under 30% to over 80% at the end of last year.
All programmes offered at George Campus within the Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, the Faculty of Education, as well as the School of Natural Resource Management were represented. Open Day typically represents "the university under one roof" and included the Port Elizabeth-based faculties. The most popular career and study fields as indicated by the learners during a structured survey over the two days are Education, Accounting. Business Management, Social Work, Law, Nursing, Information Technology & Computer Science, Tourism Management, Botany and Engineering. (Ilse Schoonraad)
From the left are Prof Andrew Leitch, Exec. Dean of the Science Faculty (based in PE), Dr Marianne Doubell, Programme Director of Economics & Business Science (George) and NMMU Marketing and Corporate Relations Director, Pieter Swart, also based in PE. Photo: Ilse SchoonraadNina Hanekom (22) is a 4th year education student and will soon be off to either Sweden or the USA as part of a NMMU exchange student programme. Nina has a head for maths and is currently doing her practical at her old alma mater, Outeniqua High. Photo: Ilse SchoonraadDr Tulsi Morar, Acting Director of the School for Initial Education appealed to educators to bring the world into the classroom and to also take the classroom into the world. Photo: Desmond Scholtz
