The Department of Basic Education urges all secondary school pupils to be a part of the annual Southern African Development Community Secondary Schools Essay Competition.
Now in its 16th year the SADC Secondary Schools Essay Competition brings to the fore the undoubted talents of some of South Africa’s most gifted young writers, their ability to express themselves, their thoughts and views.
The topic of this year’s essay is ‘climate change is having adverse effects on the socio-economic development in the region’.
Pupils are expected to write an essay, focusing on the below guidelines, explaining aspects of the theme.
They should explain the causes of global warming and how a change of one or two degrees in global average temperatures can have an impact on our lives, discuss the effects of global warming and climate change on the socio-economic development in the SADC region and the main challenges in addressing the effects of global warming and climate change.
They should also state whether it is too late to do anything about climate change and what should the SADC Education Sector do to mitigate the impact of climate change on the youth.
The three selected essays from each province will be forwarded to the Department of Basic Education by 15 April 2014.
The SADC Secretariat has allocated a sum of a 1 000 US dollars as prize money for the three national winners of the competition.
Each candidate will receive the equivalent of the prize money in rands. The three national winning essays will be forwarded to the SADC Secretariat for consideration in the regional competition.
Entrants, however, must reside in South Africa and must be attending secondary school currently.
Essays must not be more than 2 000 words but not less than 1 000 words. The font used to type these essays should be Ariel with a 1,5cm line spacing for typed essays.
Submissions must be the unaided work of applicants and should be done in English.
The name of entrants should be the same as those that appear on their identification document (ID) or passport.
Applicants also must be willing and fit to travel.
All entries should be submitted to the nearest District or Provincial Coordinator on a date set at the provincial level.
The national closing date is 11 April.
For further enquiries, contact Elijah Mhlanga on 083 580 8275 or Terence Khala on 071 701 6837.
