Educators’ disciplinary capabilities after the banning of corporal punishment in South African schools

The escalation of learner indiscipline cases in schools suggests failure by teachers to institute adequate alternative disciplinary measures after corporal punishment was outlawed in South African schools. We sought to address the following two research questions: (a) How do educators view their disciplinary capabilities in the post-corporal punishment period? and (b) How do educators view the usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures? The study adopted a qualitative approach. A case study of three purposively selected practising junior secondary school educators was used. Data were collected through interviews. We found that educators generally feel disempowered in their ability to institute discipline in schools in the absence of corporal punishment. Educators revealed that learners do not fear or respect educators because they know that nothing will happen to them. Although educators are aware of alternative disciplinary measures, they view them as ineffective and time consuming.Keywords: corporal punishment; educator capacity; indiscipline; schools;South Afric

Environmental Sustainability and Quality Education: Perspectives from a community living in a context of poverty

This paper presents perspectives on sustainability, quality and relevance of education found in a resettlement community in Zimbabwe. The exploratory research triangulated data from community meetings, interviews, focus group discussions and digital photography. The results showed that the community lived in a context of risk and vulnerability where a range of economic, cultural, social and environment issues and poor quality of education posed a threat to the quality of life. Tensions in the community and between the school and community, lack of solidarity, and the weakening of the traditional Unhu/Ubuntu moral and ethical framework contributed to the community’s failure to envision and implement interventions towards quality education and towards sustainable development. The participatory research helped ease these tensions, enabling it to realise opportunities to deal with some of its sustainability issues. It enhanced teacher– community relations, leading to cooperation and solidarity around school improvement and environmental projects. The case study demonstrated the relevance of environmental education and education for sustainable development to quality of formal education in the school community and to the quality of formal and informal education in the broader community context

Etude de la filière viande de chèvre au Zimbabwe

Cet article présente une étude du secteur caprin au Zimbabwe, et plus particulièrement dans la province de Masvingo, basée sur l'utilisation du concept de filière comme outil d'analyse. Après une brève justification du choix analytique et une présentation des outils méthodologiques retenus, deux représentations de la filière sont proposées. Le deuxième modèle, plus puissant, est ensuite commenté au vu des données comptables. En conclusion, ce type d'analyse permet d'identifier des interlocuteurs privilégiés pour la mise en place d'actions de développement visant au renforcement des circuits de commercialisation de la viande de chèvre et à l'amélioration des revenus des petits producteurs

The Effect of Black Tax on Employee Engagement: The Mediating Role of Idiocentrism-Allocentrism-A Case of Pharmaceutical Industry in Zimbabwe

Employees in the Pharmaceutical industry are coming late to work and knocking off early. These actions unveiled by the employees are likely to incur economic costs on the employer, occasioned by low employee productivity. Owners of production have expressed concern over the general low staff morale in the pharmaceutical sector. While most studies have concentrated on internal job-related factors as drivers of employee engagement, this study seeks to assess employee engagement as being influenced by black tax, an external factor. The main aim of the research was to establish the influence of black tax on employee engagement, being mediated by idiocentrism-allocentrism, particularly focussing on the pharmaceutical manufacturing and retailing industry in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The study employed the philosophical approach of pragmatism to guide the whole research. The researcher adopted a multi-stage sampling technique supported by the census technique to pick participants from the population. Closed and open-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from qualified pharmacists who are working in both the manufacturing and retailing industry in Bulawayo. Statistical Package for Social Sciences v23 (Process v3.5 by Andrew F. Hayes) was used to test the hypothesized relationship among variables. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results suggest that black tax directly influence employee engagement in the presence of a mediator (idiocentrism-allocentrism). Furthermore, the results indicate that the indirect coefficient was partially significant, which means that idiocentrism-allocentrism has a partial influence on employee engagement. The researchers recommend that management should ensure that employees are motivated all the time. They should implement an open-door policy so that employees can share their issues that affect their engagement level at work

Generalised mutually permutable products and saturated formations, II

Please read abstract in the article.The Mathematical Center in Akademgorodok under the agreement No. 075-15-2022-281 with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-australian-mathematical-society2024-07-30hj2024Mathematics and Applied MathematicsNon

Mobile targeted screening for tuberculosis in Zimbabwe: diagnosis, linkage to care and treatment outcomes.

SETTING: Targeted active screening for tuberculosis (Tas4TB) using mobile trucks in the community was implemented in 15 high TB burden districts in Zimbabwe. At-risk populations were screened for TB based on symptoms and chest radiography (CXR) results. Those with any positive symptom and/or an abnormal CXR had sputum collected for investigation and diagnosis and were linked to care and treatment if found to have TB. OBJECTIVE: To determine 1) the proportion and characteristics of those screened and diagnosed with TB; 2) the relationship between TB symptoms, CXR and diagnostic yields; and 3) the relationship between initiation of anti-TB treatment and treatment outcomes. DESIGN: Cohort study using routinely collected data. RESULTS: A total of 39 065 persons were screened, of whom 663 (1.7%) were diagnosed with TB; 126/663 (19.0%) were bacteriologically confirmed. The highest TB diagnostic yields were in symptomatic persons with CXRs suggestive of TB (19.4%), asymptomatic persons with CXRs suggestive of TB (8.4%) and persons at high-risk of TB (3.2%). For all diagnosed TB patients, pre-treatment loss to follow-up was 18.9% and treatment success was 59.9%. CONCLUSION: Tas4TB resulted in high diagnostic yields; however, linkage of diagnosis to care was poor. Reasons for loss to follow-up need to be better understood and rectified

Engineering, expression in transgenic plants and characterisation of e559, a rabies virus-neutralising monoclonal antibody.

Rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) currently comprises administration of rabies vaccine together with rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) of either equine or human origin. In the developing world, RIG preparations are expensive, often in short supply, and of variable efficacy. Therefore, we are seeking to develop a monoclonal antibody cocktail to replace RIG. Here, we describe the cloning, engineering and production in plants of a candidate monoclonal antibody (E559) for inclusion in such a cocktail. The murine constant domains of E559 were replaced with human IgG1κ constant domains and the resulting chimeric mouse-human genes were cloned into plant expression vectors for stable nuclear transformation of Nicotiana tabacum. The plant-expressed, chimeric antibody was purified and biochemically characterized, was demonstrated to neutralize rabies virus in a fluorescent antibody virus neutralization assay, and conferred protection in a hamster challenge model