Siyavula is an ambitious project that aims to transform education in South Africa by providing free, open and curriculum-aligned educational resources. Siyavula means ‘we are opening’ in Nguni and is an apt description of the initiative that will provide content via an online portal where educators can collaborate and create resources, leveraging Creative Commons licenses.

The conventional publishing model for textbooks presents significant problems for education in the developing world. It has resulted in an environment in which textbooks are prohibitively expensive and where great effort is required in order to localise, refresh or translate content. The market is controlled by a handful of corporate players who utilise restrictive copyrights and are primarily focused on driving profits and less concerned with enhancing education.

Open and collaborative online content, however, offers a viable alternative to conventional publishing and holds great promise for education. Siyavula will combine technology with Creative Commons licenses to make open content resources available to educators and learners in South Africa.
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Having your consciousness raised is a constant experience as a kid. Once you get older, and especially once you leave school, it stops being unavoidable and becomes something you have to work for. Pushing the boundaries of your realisation frame and expanding your insight requires proactive efforts, either on your own part or others’.

In Australia and New Zealand they sell maps of the world with the South Pole on top of the map and the Northern Hemisphere at the bottom. It flies in the face of convention surrounding the notion of North meaning ‘up’ and South meaning ‘down’. It raises consciousness to the fact that, in the astronomical sense, there is no up or down. It also draws attention to a prejudice surrounding the Southern Hemisphere.
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