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Rural schools worldwide have been categorised as underprivileged and/or under-resourced, characterised by limited resources, teacher shortages, and lack of access to social and educational amenities, among others. This conceptual paper analyses the potential of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) to transform rural schools. This study is lensed within transformative paradigm as a worldview towards building on a school community's assets, strengths, and resources to promote positive change. The concept of ABCD was presented and analysed using conceptual analysis as a tool to make sense of the ABCD concept and its assumptions which includes community engagement, asset mapping, asset mobilisation, and capacity building. The study presents the assumptions of ABCD vis-à-vis its relationship with schools’ transformation. It argues that ABCD can be a practical approach to address these challenges by empowering rural communities to identify and leverage their strengths and resources to improve education outcomes. The paper concludes by highlighting the potential benefits of ABCD in transforming rural schools, including increased community involvement, improved teacher retention, and enhanced student outcomes.

In the posthuman era, teaching and learning through technologies are becoming increasingly important, most especially in the university system. Connectivism, a theory of learning that emphasises the importance of connections between people and information, is one of the most influential educational philosophies driving today’s educational dynamism. In a posthuman world, where technology is constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, connectivism is argued to provide a framework for understanding how students learn and how can technology be used to facilitate learning. This study argues that connectivism is one of the ways in which classroom stakeholders can be made to prepare for the posthuman era. The study is located within the transformative paradigm to enable the researcher to tailor the argument toward transforming the university classrooms towards developing a new way of thinking about society's present social boundaries by pursuing truth within a postmodern framework. In the same vein, conceptual analysis was adopted to make sense of the argument since it helps to interoperate and dismantle complex and ambiguous concepts toward meaning-making. The analysis begins by presenting connectivism and its potential assumptions. The assumptions were juxtaposed with the posthuman agenda by arguing the relationship between posthumanism and connectivism and lastly, how it prepares classroom stakeholders for building students’ capacity ahead of the emerging interaction between human (students) and non-human (technologies). The study concludes that connectivism viewpoint is one of the unavoidable philosophies of the future.

Observation and literature confirmed that men are unduly scarce in the count of foundation phase teachers in South Africa and the few that are presented as foundation phase teachers are often criticized and ridiculed with the argument that foundation phase teaching is for women. Therefore, the study sought to understand gendered ideologies in order to address the issue of missing male teachers in the foundation phase, which is currently considered to be feminized. Using Sandra Bem’s Gender Schema Theory, the study explores the perceptions embedded within gender issues and how these influence the appointment of male teachers in the foundation phase in the Amathole Education District of the Eastern Cape Province. A qualitative approach was adopted, and a case study research design was employed where six participants (three males and three females) were purposely sampled and interviewed. Data were analyzed using content analyses where some themes emerged. The study revealed that most males are unwilling to work with younger kids, while the study also confirms their roles as very important in the development of younger kids. The study concludes that male teachers’ positive influence cannot be underestimated; hence the government should devise a way to motivate male teacher educators toward the world of work in the foundation phase.

In Nigeria, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused many economies to crumble and claimed lives, has been a drawback to the teaching and learning of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). This paper examined the strategies scholars have identified in the previous studies to reposition and make effective the instruction of technical and vocational education in Nigeria post-COVID-19. A PRISMA protocol was adopted to document the analysis method and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The authors used relevant electronic databases (Google Scholar and Scopus) to search for qualitative and quantitative journal articles published in English between 2020 and 2022 on TVET in Africa. Studies that focused on primary education level were excluded. A three-step synthesis process was used to map the literature to the study objectives. It was found that teaching and learning in TVET in the post-COVID period can be improved by providing professional training programmes for teachers or instructors on relevant skills in a disruptive situation. This paper will guide the educational stakeholders (government, school administrators, teachers, and non-governmental organisations) on the effective strategies for teaching and learning TVET in Nigeria post-COVID-19. Keywords: TVET, post-COVID-19, Nigeria, Strategies, Teaching and learning

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a total shutdown of global economies and education institutions to lessen the spread of the virus. Due to strict compliance with safety protocols, educational institutions were duty-bound to shift from traditional face-to-face to virtual classroom teaching and learning strategies. This new teaching approach was unanimously embraced and adopted by all institutions globally. The easing of COVID-19 restrictions has led to the re-opening of mainstream schools. As a result, the study focused on teaching strategies adopted by educators after the lockdown. This study employed an interpretive paradigm anchored on the opportunity to learn (OTL) theory. Teaching and learning strategy is one of the key variables grounded in the OTL. Critical issues emerged from this conceptual paper. Among these was the lack of uniform teaching and learning methods approved by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in the post-COVID-19 era. The teaching approach adopted during the national shutdown mostly benefited learners from affluent homes, lack of digital learning and teaching support systems disadvantaged learners from poor communities. This study recommended, among others, the provision of adequate online teaching resources for implementing blended teaching and learning methods in South African schools. Keywords: Blended teaching approach, COVID-19 pandemic, Strategy, teaching and learning, South Africa

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, teaching and learning have experienced various challenges and shifts from normal classroom dimensions to what several scholars regard as the "new normal." This situation disrupted teaching and learning systems, with various institutions trying to find alternative ways to ensure effective curriculum implementation. In the event that COVID-19 seems to be a thing of the past, there is a need to understand how best education actors could navigate the new shift. Therefore, researchers need to continue to work on improving educators' understanding of how best to teach and learn and how students and educational institutions respond to the shift in the post-pandemic classrooms. Based on this, a special issue was initiated to galvanize findings, views, approaches, and strategies to enhance sustainable post-COVID-19 pedagogical needs. Therefore, this special issue plays an essential role in helping students, scholars, educators, policymakers and educational agencies understand the present pedagogical shift and prepare for the future. Keywords: Post COVID-19 Classrooms, teaching and learning, new normal, pedagogical needs.

Mathematical geometrical (MG) concept is often perceived as abstract and difficult to understand by students at the TVET College. Students are unable to perform well in Mathematic Assessments Tasks specifically on this concept. Drawing from this is the declining percentages of student enrolments in mathematics at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 2. The aim of this study was to enhance the teaching and learning of Mathematical Geometry through the integration of indigenous knowledge in the form of a pilot-practical assessment task (PAT). The research team made use of focus group discussions to gather empirical data. Students were given the practical assessment task that incorporated indigenous knowledge to close the gap of students being unable to relate the mathematical geometry taught in the classroom to their everyday lives that seemed to prevail amongst mathematics students at a TVET College. Ten co-researchers were homogeneously selected based on their level of experience in teaching mathematical geometry at a TVET college located in the Afromontane communities of Thabo Mofutsanyane municipality, South Africa. The result indicated that indigenous knowledge can be utilized as an effective way of learning and teaching mathematical geometry at the TVET college.

Language teachers, yet on the other side, language enhancement is compromised for learners whose home language is not English. Further than that, for teachers lacking specialisation of other subjects allocated to them, besides English language teaching and learning becomes a monotonous activity that does not inspire learner attitudes more so that the greatest percentage of subjects underpinning the curriculum is offered in an English medium. This paper aims to explore if offering different subjects in varying classes has any significant impact on language development. The study is located within interpretivist paradigm using qualitative research appraoch and case study research design. 5 secondary school English language teachers were purposefully nominated and interviewed to study the problem’s complex phenomenon. Findings divulged that multi subject allocation in the site investigated seemed to be compromising subject specification, thus leading to a decline in enhancing language development. The study recommends that to re-build teacher and learner motivation, policies should be put in place to consider subject speciality when allocation of subjects is administered.

Conflict is inevitable in an organization that depends on people’s collaboration and togetherness in actualizing its aims and objectives. A university system, which comprises staff, students, and other extraneous subjects and objects, remains under perpetual uneasiness due to interpersonal conflicts between members of staff, management and staff, students, and students and management or against other staff. The conflicts between these critical stakeholders are inevitable, not only because of the differences in their responsibilities towards organizational goals but because the place of individual differences can not be underestimated. This study presents the Ubuntu politics of process as an alternative to managing organizational conflict in the university system. The study answers questions such as: what are the Ubuntu politics of process, and how can it be deployed to manage or prevent conflicts? This article is theoretical and located within the transformative paradigm. A conceptual analysis was employed to interpret Ubuntu as a framework for alternative conflict management in universities. The concept of Ubuntu was presented, and its politics of process as the assumptions were also presented. The nexus between Ubuntu and conflict management was also argued. The findings showed that the spirit of solidarity and sharing, positive and optimist mindedness, compassion and inner goodness factors can minimize organizational conflict in the university system. The study concludes that the Ubuntu politics of process is a dimension of conflict management in the university system. Universities should promote solidarity and the spirit of sharing, positiveness, an optimistic way of life, caring and compassion, and inner goodness among stakeholders.

This paper aims to investigate whether e-learning has any significant influence on academic attainment. From this time, little is noted by literature about training teachers towards attaining the necessary skills needed for digital e-learning applications. Investigation for this paper was conducted through a qualitative research methodology. Authors decided to use this method with a concern of understanding the behaviour of humans as per teacher perspectives, leading to obtaining better understanding of underlying motives. For this qualitative investigation, three conveniently selected secondary school teachers from a rural school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were interviewed. Engaging with the participants through administration of the interview schedule assisted authors in obtaining reach data due to contained questions that had a specific element of being open-ended. A fundamental finding revealed that teachers across all subjects have since embarked at focusing on (i) learner-centered practical approaches to allow determined e-learning engagements, thus having an impact on (ii) learner turnout. On noting this perspective from the teacher participants, it is recommended that as citizens held up in the technological revolution, there seems to be a need for teaching-learning approaches to be altered. This study, therefore, concludes that as a means to enable enhanced learner attainment, rural versus urban digital variations be addressed

Social parity, in the form of classism creates an environment where students from less privileged backgrounds feel subjugated and disadvantaged by social intimidation. In order to eliminate classism in university classrooms, the study proposes the potential of Ubuntu as a transformative strategy to promote a university system that is free of intimidation and discriminatory social classes that aid social inequalities. Hence, the study answers the following questions: What are the assumptions of Ubuntu? And how can the assumptions be used to unpack classism within university classrooms? The transformative paradigm was used to lens the study because it resonates with researchers' intention to create and suggest plausible ways of building a just and equitable university community. The analysis of Ubuntu as a transformative strategy was presented using thematic analysis to conceptualise and interpret Ubuntu and its underlying assumptions towards transforming classism. The study concludes that mirroring oneself in others, communality and togetherness, humanity and unity, and egalitarian practices is a dimension of a classless university classroom toward an equitable society. Therefore, university classrooms should be tailored toward love, communality and togetherness, humanity and unity of purpose, and egalitarian practices

INTRODUCTION: The term ectopic kidney is used to describe a kidney that is found in a place that is not its normal anatomic position while malrotation refers to the abnormal orientation of the kidney. These two are some of the congenital malformations that the kidney is predisposed to in its embryogenesis.CASE: The current findings were discovered during routine dissections in the Gross lab of the Human Anatomy Department of the University of RwandaA left ectopic kidney with a relatively larger than normal size (10.5cm × 5.2cm) was found with the main blood supply arising from the median sacral artery and two other accessory arterial supplies arising from the abdominal aorta. The kidney was mal-rotated, facing laterally, with the ureter on both sides dilated. CONCLUSION: Knowing kidney variations is ever more important with the rate of increase in renal transplantations and vascular surgeries

INTRODUCTION: Anterior jugular veins are a paired structure found on either side of the neck and are responsible for other veins in draining the head and neck regions.CASE: The variations reported here are from two male cadavers about 45 and 50 years of age who were being dissected routinely in the dissecting room. The first cadaver, which was the 50-yearold, had the normal formation of both anterior jugular veins (AVJ), but down in its course, the left and the AJVs join around the cricoid cartilage and continue down as a single vein running in the mid-line of the neck but ending by piercing deep to drain into the external jugular vein. The second cadaver was 45 years old. After forming the left AJV, the vein immediately crosses over to the right to run parallel to the right AJV before both joining to form a common vein and then piercing to drain in the external jugular vein (EJV).CONCLUSION: The knowledge of these variations has become very important for all health workers dealing with the neck surgically, radiologically or otherwise.

INTRODUCTION: Anatomical variation of high brachial artery bifurcation and these morphological variations of the brachial artery should be considered by surgeons when performing procedures in the brachial artery area.CASE: The left anterior arm and anterior forearm regions of a thirty-three-year-old cadaver was dissected. The origin, course, and terminal branches of the Brachial artery were traced. It was then observed that the Brachial artery bifurcation was in the upper third of the humerus instead of the cubital fossa. CONCLUSION: Brachial artery and its terminal branch variations are less common. However Brachial artery could be bifurcated and then reunite. In this case, the brachial artery presented bifurcation one laterally and another one medially with the median nerve running between them. Both branches don’t reunite but continue laterally and medially, respectively.

INTRODUCTION: The brachial artery and its terminal branches are the major arterial supply to the brachium and antebrachium. Variations in the vascular supply in the upper limbs have been previously documented to occur more in the radial artery, followed by the ulnar artery, but less commonly in the brachial arteryCASE: An embalmed cadaver was used for gross dissection during the gross anatomy dissection for postgraduate students at the department of human anatomy of the University of Rwanda.During the dissection of the right upper arm, an accessory brachial artery was found, branching from the axillary artery above the unification of the lateral and medial cords of the brachial plexus (the lateral and medial root of the median nerve).CONCLUSION: In our case, the aberrant brachial artery originated from the axillary artery and gave off a muscular branch in the middle third of the arm, which is of clinical importance.

INTRODUCTION: The inferior thyroid artery (ITA) usually originates from the thyrocervical trunk in the majority of the human population (90.5%), or from the subclavian artery in a few populations of humans (7.5%). It is quite rare to find the ITA originating from the common carotid artery (CCA). CASE PRESENTATION: This study was a case report of a cadaveric dissection at the anatomy department, university of Rwanda. The case was a 54-year-old male who had 2 inferior thyroid arteries on the left side, with one originating from the thyrocervical trunk and the other taking a rare anatomical origin from the CCA. CONCLUSION: It is important that such anatomical arterial patterns be documented in order to create awareness that is useful to surgeons and imaging specialists. This will help reduce the risk of iatrogenic complications during the surgical intervention to the thyroid gland.

Student activism has been a crucial force for social change in universities. To this end, students around the world have been at the forefront of movements to promote democracy and human rights. In recent years, student activism has been used to fight social inequality, funding problems, balancing political ideologies, promises and quest for identity, especially among the subalterns, people of colour formerly colonised and those facing systematic, epistemic, cognitive, and structural exclusion. While the fight at first value appears noble, desirable, and doable, the praxis of student activism in the 21st century among some countries in the Global South, most especially in Africa, presents ambivalence marked with thuggery, arson, and criminality. Universities in Africa have become unsafe sites for students, academics, and other stakeholders. It is against this background that the book was conceptualised with the intention to problematise destructive student activism. The book documents various case studies in the African continent on how students have practised, re-imagined and reconstructed to ensure the relevance of universities in peace-making initiatives. Thus, this research-based book argues that in the midst of student unrest within universities, alternative situational responses are available, doable and achievable, underpinned with critical consciousness, geared to make universities relevant to meet the demands of the 21st century’s sustainability needs. In conclusion, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the problem of student unrest in universities. It offers some practical solutions that can be implemented to help prevent, manage and quell such social unrest., "We need a new lens to understand student activism in the 21st century. Failure to do so will produce graduates that believe that destructive confrontation is the language of engagement." Bekithemba Dube

Various indications, including literature, have confirmed that university classrooms are still mostly inactive and undemocratic, dominated by instructors and lecturers. That is, little or no atmosphere is created for the student to be a socially active participant in generating knowledge which appears to have affected their sociality in the university and their lives after their university education. Some university lecturers still use a traditional or a systematic colonized way of teaching. This study responded by proposing unabridged Social Constructivism (SC) to create socially active university students towards becoming productive and active citizens. This was done by answering a general question: How can SC be projected in the university classroom to create active and productive students? This study was located within a transformative paradigm in order to transform students’ inactiveness in the process of generating knowledge. Conceptual analysis was used to design the study. This was done within the principle of thematic analysis by arranging SC's assumptions into themes and making sense of them. The study thus presents that SC possesses the acumen to assist lecturers in ensuring that their classrooms are socially active towards student productivity both in the schools and in the field of work.

Nowadays, many classrooms are content-based and, therefore, disadvantage students from gaining lifelong skills that could support them in their future endeavours. This study proposed transformational teaching as a veritable strategy for effective classrooms where teaching and learning are taken beyond content delivery. This theory enables teachers/instructors/lecturers to promote expressive change that could lead to life-changing experiences among students. The study answers the following question: How can transformational teaching be presented as a stimulative teaching strategy for effective classrooms. The study is located within the transformative paradigm and designed with concept analysis, where the principles of transformational teaching are conceptualised and analysed using thematic analysis. The study was implemented by exploring the theory, its assumptions, and the connections between the theory and classroom activities. The study found that when effectively implemented in the classrooms, transformational teaching will enhance students’ lifelong learning experiences and contribute to a productive society. The study further recommends that teachers and students adopt transformational principles/strategies in curriculum facilitation (in the teaching and learning activities).

Unlike other countries, rural community schools in South Africa are faced with many challenges that hinder them from discharging their academic responsibilities. This study seeks to understand the challenges faced by South African pre-service teachers deployed to rural communities during their teaching practice. This study adopted qualitative research approach and was viewed from a decolonial perspective and lensed using a transformative paradigm within the participatory research design. The participants comprised ten pre-service teachers who underwent their practice in rural schools and were selected using the snowballing method. The participants were asked to reflect on their experiences, especially their challenges during teaching practice. Thematic analysis was employed to make sense of the data based on the objectives of the study. The study found out that rural schools lack basic amenities, physical resources, teaching aids. The study also revealed that language of instruction challenges rural students, and another finding showed that absenteeism and truancy are the major challenges in rural schools. The study concludes that inadequate resources, the language of instruction, absenteeism and truancy are major challenges with recommendations that a concerted effort is needed to decolonise the rural communities and their schools towards transformation.

Classrooms are sometimes laced with various pedagogical styles, which even though professional, may be alien to the students, leading to demotivation. Such demotivation usually results from a lack of affectionate pedagogical processes that affect students’ academic prowess, such as academic performance, achievement and attainment of academic goals. A teaching-learning process that does not accommodate professional affections may lead to an unpleasant end where the classroom purposes are defeated. Hence, this study presents Ubuntu as an emancipatory philosophy that ensures unhindered student achievement and performance. The study is positioned to answer a question: How can Ubuntu be presented to unravel ineffective classroom practices towards students’ emancipation. The study is designed within the transformative worldview to emancipate students and challenge the classroom status quo. This study was analysed using conceptual analysis, in which concepts derived from Ubuntu are subjected to intellectual and deductive interpretation for meaning-making. In this study, Ubuntu is presented alongside its three cardinal assumptions based on the researcher’s view. The assumptions (collaboration and togetherness; humanness; recognition and respect) were analysed and correlated with the classroom activities to promote students’ academic prowess. The study concludes that Ubuntu-like classrooms are the dimension of productive classroom practices towards students’ academic prowess. Therefore, the study recommended that classrooms be laced with collaboration, togetherness, and humanness, where students’ voices and opinions are recognised and respected. Keywords: Ubuntu philosophy, ubuntu classrooms, academic prowess, transformation, emancipation.

Sometimes, teachers or instructors find it challenging to understand or achieve a democratic education without compromising the quality pedagogical process. Hence, this study is conceptualised around the principles of emancipatory pedagogy as a tool to ensure effective classrooms democracy across levels of classrooms. This study answers the following question: how can emancipatory pedagogy be presented as an effective tool to implement a democratic classroom? This study locates its argument within a transformative worldview and adopts a conceptual analysis to interpret emancipatory pedagogy as a conceptual framework for the study. Emancipatory pedagogy, its assumptions, and how they informed democratic classrooms were argued with the conclusion that emancipatory pedagogy is a dimension of effective and democratic classrooms because both concepts promote critical thinking and social justice among students, develop a personal connection with learning and create an atmosphere for freedom of knowledge construction among students. The study recommends that teachers or instructors interested in implementing democratic education/classrooms adopt the assumptions of emancipatory pedagogy by tailoring their classrooms towards promoting critical thinking skills, development of personal connection with learning, and freedom to enable students to construct knowledge of their own.

Despite the importance of a theoretical framework in research, researchers face several challenges when selecting a theoretical framework for their study among which are a lack of agreement as to what constitutes a theory, a lack of a single theoretical framework that applies to all social science research, and selection based on personal conviction and interest rather than on the suitability of the theory to the research problem and the paradigmatic orientation of the chosen theory, which takes account of the epistemological assumptions. This study, therefore, aims to develop a model capable of enhancing the researcher's knowledge towards selecting an appropriate theoretical framework. The article is conceptual and dependent on logical arguments by presenting four paradigms alongside their epistemological standpoints. I argued the epistemology of research paradigms and their theoretical lensing using conceptual analysis to analyse the concepts and make sense of them. The study concludes that hypothesis, statistical/mathematical postulations, projections via research questions, and models are better to underpin studies under the positivist/post-positivist paradigm. Descriptive and analytic theories are better used when working within the interpretive paradigm. While transformative paradigm is best to be underpinned within critical theory, postcolonial theories and postcolonial indigenous paradigms are dependent on Indigenous Knowledge System.

To establish patterns or themes of dreams and dreamlike mentation content reported in all forms of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias and to identify gaps in the current understanding of this topic.A scoping review of available evidence on dreams and dreamlike mentation in NREM parasomnias was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. We searched peer-reviewed literature using Google Scholar, PubMed, Ovid (Embase), Ovid Medline®, Global Health, and APA Psych Info. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to appraise the quality of selected articles.The final analysis included 16 studies. All of the studies were from high-income countries. The studies reported on dreams and dreamlike mentation in NREM parasomnias, but there was scarcity of literature for sexsomnia, sleep-related eating disorder, and confusional arousal. All of the studies had the highest quality as shown by the MMAT (76%-100%). Emotions such as apprehension and misfortune were associated with sleepwalking and sleep terrors.Sleep studies involving collection of dream content immediately following NREM parasomnia could significantly minimize reporting bias and improve dream data quality.

It has been observed that students do not adhere to COVID-19 regulations on campus despite various instructions from both government and university authorities for staff and students to maintain adequate COVID-19 protocols in universities. Therefore, this study explores the challenges faced by students that make them disregard COVID-19 protocols, such as wearing nose masks, hand sanitization, and social distancing. The study is located in an interpretive paradigm using a case study as a research design. The convenience sampling technique was used to select ten university students who responded to interview questions on the challenges that hinder them from complying with COVID-19 protocols. The study adopted thematic analysis (TA) as a qualitative tool to interpret and make meanings from the data generated. The study found that limited COVID-19 awareness on campus, health challenges among students, and lack of classroom capacity and personal protective equipment (PPE) are significant challenges. In contrast, the recommended solutions are stricter COVID-19 regulations, provision of PPE and spacious lecture rooms, and creating COVID-19 awareness/education. The study suggests that university management or authorities should provide strategies to make students adhere to the measures, provide PPE to alleviate students financially or socially and ensure adequate awareness of COVID-19 on campus.

The study investigates the effects of e-learning as an alternative form of curriculum dissemination for rural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college students. This study adopted connectivism theory, which enabled lecturers to reflect and adapt to how learning has changed and the accompanying implications of designing the spaces and structures to the current mode of learning. The researcher made use of two research methods to gather data; phone interviews and questionnaires. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0, Office Word format. The results indicated that the unavailability of technological resources, lack of financial support from single parents’ side due to socio-economic factors, and child-headed families hinder the correct implementation of e-learning and make it difficult to reach its objectives.

Introduction The defects found in Tessier clefts number 3 and number 4 come in various forms in different patients. These variations have to a great extent affected not only documentation of these craniofacial defects but invariably their treatment and communication amongst craniofacial researchers. This study has not only documented the clinical presentation of these clefts in a South African population but has also incorporated the clinical presentation of Tessier clefts number 3 and 4 from different regions of the world. Methods The records of 8 patients, who had been treated for either Tessier clefts number 3 or 4, were reviewed and compared with 16 studies pulled from the literature systematically. The defects recorded as well as associated clefts and other congenital malformations were documented, and findings were compared. Results The anatomical and clinical presentation of the patients was compared to the reviewed literature and the different parameters were documented. In addition, associated clefts were also recorded in the study—it was noted that the association pattern recorded in Tessier cleft number 4 in this study did not conform to its traditional counterpart. Conclusion This study concluded that the clinical presentations of these clefts, however variable, seem to have a similar presentation worldwide. Additionally, associated clefts do not conform to the original Tessier classification system and therefore it is imperative for these patterns to be clearly mapped out.

University system, all over the world, most especially in Africa had witnessed various social unrest traceable to social factors such as; student-management dichotomies, disagreement between staff unions and university management, external and political interferences, gangsterism, among others. These in our observations and experiences had impeded in so many ways, the speedy actualisation of the predetermined goals and objectives of the university system. We recognised that solutions to this lacuna were propounded by various scholars and educational agencies, despite these interventions, the problem still persist. In lieu of this, Ubuntu philosophy, is presented as an alternative process, input and output to mitigating the challenges of social unrest in the university system. This argument was made to answer the prevailing question of; how can Ubuntu, the philosophy of love, oneness, humanity and togetherness be used to unravel social unrest in the University system? The study is situated in transformative paradigm. The analysis was done using Socio-thematic Analysis where Ubuntu praxis and literature on students’ unrest constitute the data and argument in order to present an alternative strategy that could ensure peaceful university operations. We concluded that honest practices, humanity, social inter-dependency and togetherness via unity of purpose are dimension of peace and tranquility in the university system with recommendation all stakeholders should be trained and retrained on the importance of ubuntu, while ubuntu practices as a compulsory module or course is recommended for students.

Social parity, in the form of classism creates an environment where students from less privileged backgrounds feel subjugated and disadvantaged by social intimidation. In order to eliminate classism in university classrooms, the study proposes the potential of Ubuntu as a transformative strategy to promote a university system that is free of intimidation and discriminatory social classes that aid social inequalities. Hence, the study answers the following questions: What are the assumptions of Ubuntu? And how can the assumptions be used to unpack classism within university classrooms? The transformative paradigm was used to lens the study because it resonates with researchers' intention to create and suggest plausible ways of building a just and equitable university community. The analysis of Ubuntu as a transformative strategy was presented using thematic analysis to conceptualise and interpret Ubuntu and its underlying assumptions towards transforming classism. The study concludes that mirroring oneself in others, communality and togetherness, humanity and unity, and egalitarian practices is a dimension of a classless university classroom toward an equitable society. Therefore, university classrooms should be tailored toward love, communality and togetherness, humanity and unity of purpose, and egalitarian practices

Literature and social reality confirm that rurality and its people remain underprivileged, while groups within communities, even in urbanism, still demonstrate marginalisation and social inequalities. Not only that, but research is also limited to emancipate the perpetual deficiencies and the various inequalities that emerge within the context of rurality and community livelihood. Even the little research output in this category suffers revered outlets where rural and community studies could be disseminated. This forms the gap to which the Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural and Community Studies (IJRCS) intends to fill. This, therefore, is the inaugural statement of the Journal. The statement presents the historical background of the Journal, the focus of the Journal, and subsequently defines the conceptual understanding of the rural and community to enlighten the authors and readers about the kind of acceptable articles. The editorial process and the professional profile of our editors were presented with a conclusion that whatever knowledge production is coming from the archives of IJRCS is authentic, productive and will definitely assume national and international standards without giving loopholes for contestation.

This theoretical formulation responded to the quest for Africanised epistemic space to construct the hidden indigenous practices into the world of knowledge. Kenimani (that others may not have) and Kenimatoni (that others may not reach up to one’s status), a Yoruba language, one of the African languages was rationalised as an organisational theory of relationships capable of understanding and interpreting people’s actions, and inactions in organisations. The exploration was guided by examining how the underlying meaning and principles of Kenimani-Kenimatoni can be exemplified to the leadership and followership syndrome of organisational relationships. The article was designed using inductive and deductive experiential exploration to present the argument. Yoruba and its beauties were examined to open a linguistic permutation for the analysis. The two Yoruba words ‘kenimani’ and ‘kenimatoni’and their conjunctional framing as peculiar to university community were elucidated to reflect university organisational relationships. The dilemma of positivism and the negativism and the principles embedded in the Kenimani-Kenimatoni organisational practices were uncovered. The Kenimani-Kenimatoni epistemic standpoint was also exemplified with the conclusion that African society is rich in knowledge and practices. Therefore, an Africanised practice like Kenimani- Kenimatoni can explain relationship dynamics in organisations, though this is open to further scholastic discourse.

Rural communities in South Africa have various inadequacies and a lack of social support systems for the people and their inhabitants. Experiences and observations showed that the majority of the student-teachers in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa undergo their teaching practice activities in one or two rural locations, which led to many of them having to suffer from a lack of support and social amenities in their place of teaching practice. This study explores student-teachers experiences, ranging from the challenges and opportunities available for them during the program. Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach was used to underpin the study. The study falls within the transformative paradigm, and participatory research was used to design the study. Convenient sampling was used to select ten student-teachers posted to rural locations for their teaching practice within the Eastern Cape province. Reflection was used to elicit data from the participants, and the data were analysed thematically. The study found that inadequate resources and social amenities, and language barriers are challenges encountered by the student-teachers. The study also found that the provision of supportive infrastructures and the intensification of Language teaching is imminent among rural learners. Hence, the study concludes with recommendations for the provision of supportive infrastructures and the intensification of language teaching as solutions to assist student teachers in rural teaching practice.

This special issue contains quality, well-researched, and well-argued articles towards inter/multi-disciplinary understanding of the current and future state, manner, and disposition of social, educational, environmental, humanitarian, and technological perspectives of COVID-19 pandemic. Readers, academics, practitioners and students are provided with robust knowledge on the state and status of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world from its advent in 2020, its present state and future projections. We thank all colleagues involved in the editorial and publishing process for their supports, assistance and exceptional guidance. We are bold to say that the quality involved in the publication process of RESSAT Journal is second to none. To all our authors, your quality products remain part of the historical contribution to knowledge on the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims at reconstructing an online classroom community project as an alternative to physical collaborative teaching-learning process by identifying the challenges militating against the implementation of an online classroom community project and the possible solutions to mitigate the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ubuntu was used to theorise the study within the Transformative Paradigm (TP) and Participatory Research (PR) lens as a research design. Ten participants were selected among 810 first-year students who were twice given online community project assessments during the COVID-19 lockdown. The participants were selected using convenient sampling technique because, as at the time of the study, the they are under level 3 lockdown. Thematic analysis was adopted to serve the current research objectives. The study found out some challenges such as: students struggle to locate group members and unstable internet access and electricity shortage mitigate their learning. The study also revealed that tolerance among group members and consistent utilisation of online community project are the possible ways to implement online classroom community project in University classrooms more effectively. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.20.1.20

Experience and observation from bodies of existing literature have shown that the menace of social crises has eaten deep into the core of the university system in Nigeria. This borders closely on the persistence of social unrest and problems between university authorities and the student populace. This study seeks to deconstruct the mirage of politics of process allegedly responsible for the social crises in Nigerian universities through decolonial propositions. Decoloniality, as a transformative theory, was used as a theoretical lens, while Participatory Action Research design was adopted to enable the researchers to get into the research collaboratively. For the purpose of change. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was used to collect data in response to objectives 1 and 2. Also, ten participants were evenly selected using Convenient Sampling Technique at the same time; Socio-thematic Analysis (StA) was used to interpret the data. The findings revealed that cultism and external and political interferences were significant challenges and causes of social unrest in universities. In contrast, the implementation of Threat Assessment Plan, university autonomy and adequate funding have been discovered to be possible solutions to these challenges. This study, therefore, recommends the performance of the proposed solutions as tools for managing social crises in the university system.

The decolonisation of university classrooms has been of significant concern in recent times. Many decolonial strategies have been recommended in bodies of existing literature, still, none has considered the intricacies of collaborative group tasks as a strategy to decolonise classroom hegemony. This study examined the use of group tasks as a decolonial strategy, lensed through Transformative Paradigm and Participatory Action Research as a research design. This study adopted students' reflection to collect data from ten students randomly selected among the 266 students who were given individual and group tasks assessment, respectively. The collected data was analysed using Socio-thematic Analysis to interpret and make sense of the responses from the students. The study revealed that collaborative group task enhances students' conventional development and unity among the students towards productivity, in addition to increasing their conflict management skill. Further findings showed that students' laziness and time consumption were found to be the hindrance to the smooth actualisation of group work among students in the university classrooms. This study recommends that efforts be put in place to ensure that group tasks are monitored and that concerned authorities; lecturers and university academic planners must ensure that students are taught how to make effective use of their time.

Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, was adjudged as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020. This deadly, contagious, and easy-to-spread virus has plunged the world into a tentative cul-de-sac, inclusive of the university education system. By implication, the abrupt national lockdown in South Africa cut universities unaware as an insurgence against its operationalisation, teaching, and learning process. In my argument, it further confirms the need to decolonise rural universities, to be able to respond to every unforeseen emergency, as an underside of coloniality, which is currently experienced in the system. Evidence indicates that the rural universities in South Africa are battling with enabling pedestal of alternatives to teaching and learning. This study is lensed through Transformative Paradigm (TP), Participatory Research (PR) was used as a research design. The participants consisted of 15 people, 5 management staff such as the deans, head of schools, head of teaching and learning and ICT members, 5 lecturers and 5 students in a selected rural university in South Africa. The participants were selected using the snowballing selection technique with the use of calls, email and other social media platforms as a medium of participants’ recruitment. Online and phone interviews were used to collect data from the participants because the participants are under national lockdown, and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. Low technology and innovative space in rural universities and students, lecturers and university’s disadvantage background were found as the major challenges vindicating the quest for decoloniality in rural universities. Also, the compulsory used of technological innovation within the university and contingency plan for/by the stakeholders are concluded to be achievable with the use of Assets-Based Approach.

Following the dwindled academic performance of first-year undergraduate students in the universities as observed by the researchers and confirmed by the literature, the study problematised Supplemental Instruction (SI) mechanism as a tool to enhance students’ performance. Supplemental Instruction, according to this study, is the kind of supplementary academic supports rendered to students to enhance their performance. In order to achieve this, this study explored the challenges with the use of Supplemental Instruction along with the possible solutions to the problems. Social constructivism was used to theorise the study. Participatory Research (PR) was adopted as a methodology for the study because it involved the coming together of the concerned people to participate in problem definition, problem assessment, implementation, and evaluation. Unstructured interviews were used to generate data from the participants who were facilitators and students as co-researchers with the use of audiotape recorder. The participants for the study included first-year students at the selected university, the SI coordinator, two tutors for various modules and their lecturers. Thematic analysis was adopted to categorise, interpret, and analyse the generated data because it involved the reflection of categorised objectives. The study found out among others that; inadequate planning and lack of collaborative engagement were the major challenges while training and retraining of SI personnel and collaborative engagement were the suggestible solutions to ameliorate the problems. However, the study, in its conclusion, significantly enhances the university’s reputation and increases the quality of its outputs in terms of students’ academic performance through the use of SI. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.5.13

This study empirically conceptualised and rationalised decoloniality as a way to bridge the vacuumed of Americentric classroom hegemony in an attempt to reposition classroom with Afrocentricism as a dominant practice in Universities. “Ubuntugogy” as a transformational deviation from the Americentric teaching and learning is adopted as a theoretical framework. The study is situated in the transformative paradigm because its focus is to propose “ubuntugogy” as a way to deconstruct Eurocentric hegemony in university classrooms. Critical Emancipatory Research CER as an epistemological movement that is channelled towards emancipation and freedom from ideological enslavement is used as research design, and the participants consist of 10 people, 5 actively experienced lecturers, and 5 students were selected in the QwaQwa campus of the University of the Free State. Free attitude interview was used to collect data from the participant and the data collected were analysed using Thomas and Harden’s three steps of thematic analysis. The study found out that the curriculum and the perpendicular of language and cultural diversities, and colonization of mind and irresistible western classroom system are the significant challenges of implementing “ubuntugogy” in the classroom. The study subsequently proposed curriculum adjustment to accommodate trans-languaging and cultural diversities, and inculcation of self-worth and self-esteem to respond to the western irresistibility in the system with the conclusion that Afrocentric classroom may be one dimensional and thus needs to be redirected to speak to the issues of globalization. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.4.2

Assumptions and facts exist about the various challenges rural learners face when transitioning into university education in South Africa due to the pedagogical differences between secondary and university education. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the transitioning challenges of students because most of the universities, especially the selected university, utilise online learning, which is alien to first-year students who are transitioning from rural high schools to the university. This study explores the challenges and solutions associated with first-year students transitioning to a new level of education during the COVID-19 pandemic. An asset-based approach was used to theorise the study within the Transformative Paradigm (TP), while Participatory Research (PR) was used to design the study. These are relevant because both TP and PR are targeted towards transforming people’s predicaments. The participants consisted of ten first-year students selected using a convenient sampling technique. Data was collected using electronic interviews such as email, WhatsApp messages, and phone calls. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that first-year rural university students’ inability to use online learning tools effectively and unstable internet connections in the rural community are major challenges. The study, therefore, concludes that the provision of internet access and students’ readiness for adaptability are the possible solutions.

Decoloniality was adopted as a framework to unravel the societal and/or self-inflicted coloniality in a child’s development. This study is lensed under the Transformative Paradigm (TP), designed using Participatory Research (PR). Five lecturers and five teachers, who are also parents in a rural location in South Africa, were selected using the snowballing selection method. The participants were interviewed to share their experiences on the danger of culture and its effects on youths/students’ development. Socio-thematic Analysis (StA) was used to analyse the data. The findings showed that cultural history, elders’ self-righteousness, and stereotyping children as rebels are the challenges facing children’s social development. At the same time, the reorientation of students, parents and educators, restructuring teaching and learning strategies are the dimension of the liberation of children’s social development. This study recommends that teachers, parents, children and community elders be re-orientated while teachers/lecturers should restructure their teaching and learning process to accommodate children’s participatory skills in schools.

Although the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education and mental health of the university environment is relatively unknown, it is expected to be very significant considering the high incidence of emotional reactions amongst university students and staff. While fears around COVID-19 exposure, anxieties, and the challenges of support normalize stress, anxiety, and depression as emotional reactions in the face of the pandemic, this psychosocial impact has negative consequences for the university community. Thus, in order to salvage the higher education institutions from the debilitating effects of the pandemic, there is a clear need to safeguard the welfare of students and staff. Hence, it becomes vital to examine the experience of members of the university community during the COVID-19 crisis in order to develop measures and implement interventions that will assist in navigating psychosocial challenges. To achieve this objective, the study employed a mixed-method research approach in which data was collected using web-based survey and online interviews. Concurrent triangulation sampling technique was employed to select a sample of fifteen (15) students, five (5) university managers, and five (5) lecturers – making twenty-five (25) respondents at each of the two universities, thus making a cumulative total of fifty (50) at two (2) rural universities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Thus, qualitative and quantitative data collected were analysed concurrently by first reporting the qualitative findings and then comparing them to the quantitative findings. Findings revealed that although the university environment traditionally provided opportunities for strengthening social ties which satisfy the universal need to belong to a community, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered rural university life, thus, significantly impacting on psychosocial wellbeing. The study recommends that rural institutions must facilitate psychosocial wellness programming with the assistance of wider stakeholders such as the government and the private sector who can assist in financing this initiative.

This study addresses the continuous occurrence of students’ unrest in South African universities due to the alleged pseudo-collaborative management styles of universities. Experiences, literature and observation, confirmed that student-oriented unrests are unabated, and that management of universities seem to struggle to ameliorate or find a lasting solution to these issues. This study is a theoretical analysis laced with facilitative management theory. The study is located within the transformation agenda by adopting a transformative paradigm to guide the study. The suggestible solutions, which include promotion of collaborative engagement, galvanisation of public opinions, the building of listening leaders and participatory management, were discussed as a dimension of a peaceful university system. The study also recommended full implementation of collaborative engagement, respect for the opinions of all stakeholders with a listening ear and ensuring that university culture is structured to accommodate equal participation of all stakeholders

The concept of ubuntugogy appears as an ordinary grammatical prowess to some, while it also remains unknown to many. This conceptual paper attempts to conceptualise ubuntugogy, not only as indigenous teaching and learning but also as a decolonial pedagogy with liberating potentials. An assumption exists that today’s pedagogical process in Africa is still laced with subjectivism, and it fails to challenge the Eurocentric hegemony that lies within school systems. The failure to address Eurocentrism explicitly leads to the need for ubuntugogy. Ubuntugogy, therefore, needs to be unpacked for better understanding. That is, this study is not to challenge the hegemony of westernised classrooms and their pedagogical process in Africa but to conceptualise the hidden potential of ubuntugogy to fill out the limited literature of the concept in the world of academics. Hence, the study provides answers to questions such as; what is ubuntugogy? What is the epistemology of ubuntugogy? What are the transformative tendencies of ubuntugogy, and how does ubuntugogy relevant in 21st Century classrooms? The study concluded that the idea of ubuntugogy is to create a learning environment where everyone feels empowered, encouraged and free from the burdens of Eurocentric and Americentric imposition with an open tendency of knowing and being human.

The advent of COVID-19 and its implication on university education has been the bone of contention in recent times. The COVID-19 emergency has led to a change in knowledge inputs, processes, and outputs. This trajectory has demotivated student approaches to their learning. In response to this revolution, this study provides motivational strategies through students' perspectives to respond to the underside of new normal among South African university students. Ubuntu underpins the study within the Transformative Paradigm lens and Participatory Research as a research design. Ten students of a particular module in a selected university in South Africa were chosen to participate in the study. They were selected using the snowballing sampling technique because the participants were under level 3 lockdown with little or no access to campus at the time of the study. Online interview via phone calls, email and WhatsApp, was conducted with the students, and the data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. The study revealed a lack of visualised physical engagement between students and their lecturers and unstable internet access and lack of the internet as the major challenges. The study, therefore, recommends solutions that there should be adequate provision of effective online audio-visual sessions with enough space for student-lecturer’s interactions and low-tech online sessions and content deliveries.