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A partnership between the Mpumalanga Department of Education (DoE) and Telkom will help bridge the digital divide for learners and teachers in underprivileged communities.

Through the provincial e-learning programme, the Mpumalanga DoE will provide 6 700 teachers with laptops and 55 000 Grade 12 learners with tablets. The devices will be given to quintile 1, 2 and 3 schools in the province, which are situated in disadvantaged communities.

 As the connectivity partner, Telkom will provide free monthly data.

Cayden Solomons (5) was diagnosed with a hereditary blood clotting disorder – severe haemophilia A – shortly after birth.

When a person has haemophilia, their blood does not clot properly because it doesn't have enough blood-clotting proteins (factor VIII).

As a result, Cayden bleeds longer than other people. Bleeds can occur internally, in joints and muscles; or externally, from minor cuts, dental procedures or injuries.

Principal Stanley Mpangana of Magigwana High School in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, is running one of the country’s best schools, despite the many challenges faced by learners.

Magigwana was recognised as the best quintile 1 school nationally at the National Education Excellence Awards recently hosted by the Department of Basic Education. Quintile 1 represents the poorest schools in the country.

While everyone needs to eat salt, eating too much of it can cause high blood pressure and increase the risk of heart disease.

Joy Williams, a dietician at Western Cape Clinic Symphony Way Community Day Centre, says salt (sodium) is addictive and some people crave it.

People can also crave salt due to a sodium imbalance, stress, lack of sleep, dehydration, excessive sweating or a medical condition, she adds.

South African citizens aged 18 to 35 who have a 100% youth-owned business, or would like to start one, can apply for the National Youth Development Agency’s (NYDA) grant or voucher programmes.

To receive funding from these programmes, entrepreneurs first have to complete one of the NYDA’s short, three- to six-day business management training courses, which include ‘Generate your Business Idea’, ‘Start your Business’ or ‘Improve your Business’.

Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, recently received a donation of R1 million from the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to South Africa, Chen Xiaodong.

The donation is aimed at increasing the reach of government’s ongoing humanitarian relief efforts in the flood-stricken areas.

The donation follows the declaration of the National State of Disaster recently after various municipal areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape were ravaged by extreme weather conditions.

The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has suspended the payment of toll fees at uThongathi Toll Plaza and Umvoti Toll Plaza on the N2 toll route in KwaZulu-Natal.

“This suspension will go a long way in assisting communities affected by the closure of alternative roads, which have been damaged by the floods,” Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, said.

Rendani Mutheiwana (29) is making headways in medical entrepreneurship after launching her orthotics and prosthetics business at the height of COVID-19, with the help of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).

Born and raised in Rathidili Village in the Vhembe District in Limpopo, Mutheiwana opened Rendani Mutheiwana Orthotics and Prosthetics in Makhado, after completing her internship and was unable to find a job.

The Entrepreneurship Development Academy at the Gordon Institute of Business Science is partnering with Corteva Agriscience to upskill 30 female farmers.

Applications are now open for the 12-month programme, now in its second year. The programme which equips participants with the entrepreneurial, business and leadership skills they need to operate and sustain their farms profitably.

The safety of South Africa’s children takes centre-stage during Child Protection Week, which runs from 29 May to 5 June.

Cynthia Nyoni, the Department of Social Development’s (DSD) Acting Director of Child Protection in the Children Services Directorate says the care and protection of children is everyone's responsibility.

Children who are exposed to sexual activity at too young an age, harmful cultural practices and South Africa’s high teen pregnancy rate are among the challenges tackled more during Child Protection Week.