LIMPOPO – The Gr 7 learners organised a life orientation project called Y-cap (Youth Community Action Programme) inspired by the Department of Education.
The programme encourages learners to identify a challenge their school is facing and then come up with a way to eliminate it.
According to Principal, Glory Mativandlela, the learners identified the school’s dirty walls as a challenge and then worked together to clean and paint the walls.
“The learners realised it was up to them to clean the walls. They got everyone involved by turning the exercise into a competition,” Mativandlela explains.
After the learners cleaned the walls, they wanted to give the school a fresh coat of paint and asked for donations from local hardware stores. They received two buckets of paint from Galaxy and Bafana Hardwares.
The Manager of Buco Giyani took it a step further and visited the school to determine what else they needed to revamp the school. During his visit, he realised the entire school needed a fresh coat of paint so he decided to help the learners by donating enough paint to give life to the whole school.
The learners and their parents all came together to paint the walls.
Another hardware store came on board and offerered to erect a fence around the school.
“We asked parents to come and sand down the walls so that the new coat of paint will last longer, we also asked them to help dig holes for the new fence and they gladly complied.
“In the spirit of serving the community and teaching the children the importance of volunteering, the parents were eager to help and show their support for the Y-cap campaign,” says Mativandlela.
For School Governing Body member and teacher, James Mashimbye, the project is essential to teach learners important life skills.
Calvin Mahlaule, one of the parents, said the most important lesson he wants his children to learn from the campaign is that their education and the environment must be respected.
Ntsakisi Mkansi (12), a learner in Grade 7, says he learned valuable life lessons from the Y-cap campaign.
“I learned that we must keep our school clean. We learned the importance of treasuring what we have and along with that we had the opportunity to go on a trip to Giyani to ask for donations,” says Ntsakisi. “The Y-cap campaign motivates us to work together to solve problems that affect us and our community at large,” he concluded.
