Local after care judged the best
The second annual Peermont CSI Awards took place on September 1 at Emperors Palace.
This prestigious gala award ceremony celebrated and recognised the hard-working people who make these community projects a success.
KwaThema residents George Skake and Senzo Gadebe as well as Phindile Mahlangu received awards on the evening.
Phindile Mahlangu of Tsakane, who achieved 80% for English, 89% for maths and 84% for science, received the Star of the Stars 2015 Bronze Award.
KwaThema resident Senzesihle Radebe, a trust scholarship recipient, was acknowledged at the awards because she graduated with a National Diploma Musical Theatre from the Tshwane University of Technology at the end of 2015.
The Peermont CSI programme consists of four pillars including education, environment, entrepreneurial enrichment and youth development.
Khangezile Primary School After Care Centre in KwaThema was named the Top After Care Centre in the programme and the school’s principal George Skake received the award.
The Star School programme is one of the projects the Peermont Children’s Trust is involved in and it has been sponsoring the programme since 2005.
Peermont Group corporate affairs executive Vusi Zwane says: “Providing disadvantaged children and youth with educational tools and access to quality education remains vitally important to us.
“Our intervention begins from the foundation phase all the way through to university bursaries and learner career development.”
Their programmes have a natural progression and they have instituted a pipeline that starts with the school years and continues until the youth become economically active, either through full-time employment or by starting their own enterprise.
The Peermont Children’s Trust sponsors an after-school care programme to provide learners with nutritious meals, adult supervision and space to do homework in a safe environment.
“Learners are also provided with food parcels for the school holidays,” says Zwane.
The Trust also sponsors school uniforms to vulnerable learners as the lack of a school uniform causes many children to drop out of school.
The project assists 700 children across seven centres throughout Ekurhuleni.
“In order to improve the matric pass rate, Peermont sponsors 450 learners at three Star School sites each year.
“Through this programme, extra lessons in mathematics, English and physical science are provided, producing increased pass rates for these most crucial subjects.
“These learners are in turn invited to apply for a bursary through the Peermont Education Trust,” says Zwane.
