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| NO CHOICE: Children have their lesson under a tree at one of the poor schools in South Africa. Source: omeidatrading178.co.za |
The primary objective of the 94+ Schools Project for Madiba is to celebrate Mandela’s 94th birthday by giving hope and dignity to children in at least 94 schools, among them schools in Johannesburg, through improvements to school infrastructure.
The initiative was launched by the Department of Basic Education in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation ahead of this year’s Nelson Mandela Day, which is celebrated every year on the former statesman’s birthday, on 18 July.
It was officially declared in 2009 by the UN as an annual international day in honour of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The aim of the day is to inspire individuals to take action to help make the world a better place.
The initiative was launched by the Department of Basic Education in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation ahead of this year’s Nelson Mandela Day, which is celebrated every year on the former statesman’s birthday, on 18 July.
It was officially declared in 2009 by the UN as an annual international day in honour of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The aim of the day is to inspire individuals to take action to help make the world a better place.
At the campaign’s launch, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said that the new project would change the lives of thousands of pupils.
“Former President Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday presents the [department] with a rare opportunity to do good with our school infrastructure,” Motshekga said.
Basic Education’s director-general, Bobby Soobrayan, said that with the campaign, the department wanted to create an environment that was conducive to quality teaching, learning and improved performance in targeted schools.
“Public-private partnerships are one of the most effective ways to meet infrastructure backlogs,” Soobrayan said.
It is good that the poor schools will benefit from this kind of project, however, there're so many challenges in this country that need to be addressed. The issue of poverty is still ongoing, unemployment, poor service delivery, and not forgetting corruption!
Why must we wait for Mandela's birthday to make the difference where it is needed? shouldn't it be an everyday thing to help those who are in need?
This campaign once again proves that if you plan something carefully and strategically it wiil succeed, and why wait for Mandela day to make a differance?
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again, and again - making a difference can be done anywhere, anytime, without anything but the spirit of humanity! we shouldn't wait for Mandela Day.
Deletethe point is not where we get educated the point is getting education... what the campaign can do is to raise funds and get a better place to be educated
ReplyDeletePebetse, I beg to differ with you on that one - where we get educated is also a point! Compare schools in rural areas and schools in urban areas - there's a huge difference, learners who attent under a tree can not produce good results. Schools without enough facilities like science labs will not acheive the same matric results, careful consideration should be made there!
Deletethe strategy is good only if it was planned on a regular basis so that they can help a lot of children because the is a lot of them out there who need help
ReplyDeleteIndeed, changing the world should be an everyday activity. As much as we honour Madiba on his birthday by doing good - we need to have the same spirit throughout the year! That goes out especially to our political leaders.
DeleteI believe that education is the key to everything meaning that other issues such as poverty,unemployement is mainly affecting people that are uneducated,it is a good move to focus on education.
ReplyDeleteEducation is without doubt the way to a better future, but what about our mothers and fathers who couldn't get that education in the past due to apartheid? Do we forget about them and say their issues are not good enough? Every single issue facing this country is just as important as the other! Let us not forget where we come from.
DeleteI believe we should not mistaken education with indoctrination.When we start to say there is a problem in education we need to find the root cause and that is that there is a problem with our economy and the balance of wealth untill the economy is in the hands of the people who belong to this country we will keep going around in circles.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really philosophical to me Phemelo, I'm not certainly sure what you are trying to say by "mistaking education with indoctrination", but all intended to communicate here was that let us all play our roles in changing our world anytime we can and enywhere we find ourselves.
DeleteMandela DAy is a very important day, to us as South AFricans, I think there are companies too that wait for MAndela Day to make a difference in someones life, which is not such a good practice of being philanthropic, making a difference should be a continuos thing not just because of MAndela DAy can bring that change...I think rich people and companies need to take a serious look on the best practices of CSR
ReplyDeleteLoyiso, I always ask myself, why are all these billionaires around the world not lending hands where they're needed! Some people are so rich that they've even forgetten how much they actually have, if someone would be kind enough to just give away a million for a school to be build - they could save thousands of lives and creare a better future for some child out there - but hey it's their money, so who are we to judge.
Deletemaking a difference to other people's lives should be an on going thing to those who have the power to do it. a lot of people wait for Mandela day to make a difference just because they know that they are going to get free publicity.
ReplyDeletePrecisely the case! Everybody wants to be counted amongst good doers! That for me is doing good for the wrong reasons, but anyway as long as those who are in need will eventually get it.
Deleteand as pr students we should take this day and make a differece while we fill our cvs for interships
ReplyDeleteTrue Clive, not everything is about money, we all need to start getting involved in voluntary work in our communities.
Deletethe problem here is , inorder for something to be done and done effectively we have to mention famous people peole like Nelson Mandela . and if he ddnt think of such when were we going to catch a wake up and do something to better the conditions of schools and so forth?
ReplyDeleteWell, that question remains a question to me. But what I'll say is that "No man is an island", we all need to be there for one anothers as people, rich or poor!
DeleteNic, re botswa!! WE ARE LAZY AND SELFISH. Why should we wait for Mandela day to make a difference when a person is hungry today and we gonna wait for Mandela day to come before i can assist and give that person food. COME ON PEOPLE LETS STAND UP ANDMAKE DIFFERENCE. nice one Nic
ReplyDeleteWell said Lorraine, I too believe that there's not enough desire within us to stand up and make things happen to our advantage.
DeleteLorraine, it's true what you're saying. We are quick to judge and yet we don't want to offer a helping hand, instead we sit and watch people suffer and complain about unnecessary things.
DeleteIt all begins with us.What are we doing as individuals to solve the problem of learning under trees.The little we do can change a childs life to gain knowledge.It begins with the community around us, sharing knowledge, giving our school uniform instead of burning it can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteWell said Nokuthula, "it takes a village to raise a child"
DeleteThat is why CHARITY SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME, if you just grew up being a GIMME PIG, then you wont realise that the person next door is in need because you are too focused on yourself. people do not understand that helping others actually works to your benefit becuase, "Give and you shall recieve", if we stop being selfish and stingy then surely blessing will come our way.
ReplyDeleteIn order to change the world then we need to lend a helping hand as individuals and not wait for a certain date or time to do so. It is useless to wait 12 whole months to do something productive while you could've done a whole lot more during those other 12 months while waiting for a particular day to make a difference.
ReplyDeletethat is so true, we have to stand up and do things on our own.
ReplyDelete