HOT Cares and Silverstar prioritise education

Silverstar Casino and HOT 102.7FM through Hot Cares have helped shine a spotlight on the importance of education and the support some of the sector’s trailblazers need. This is through their latest contribution to the Silverstar Pays It Forward campaign.

This campaign is being rolled out in partnership with the radio station and HOT Cares. It calls for nominations and deserving individuals, initiatives, or organisations that ‘could do with some help’.

Every Wednesday on HOT 102.7FM’s flagship show, the HOT 1027 Breakfast, lives are being changed, and one of the stories recently featured was for Far North Secondary School, which mostly serves underprivileged children from Zandspruit informal settlement and the surrounding areas. The school consistently punches above its weight, largely thanks to its dedicated teachers and visionary principal.

The principal Patrick Maropeng, noted his concern that most of his Grade 12 learners didn’t have the space or suitable environment to study at home, especially during examinations. He decided that he needed to come up with a plan to meet this challenge and during his research he got the inspiration to start a study camp, having seen a similar camp at a local Diepsloot school.

“The matriculants attending are staying over at the school where they study, write their exams, and most importantly, benefit from the space and support needed during their prelims. The learners go home on Saturdays to spend time with their families, before returning to school on a Sunday. During this time we are all on rotation schedules to stay with the matriculants attending the camp which is just another example of their incredible dedication,” Maropeng said.

Furthermore, the initiative also provided the learners with essential needs such as food, blankets and refreshments. Silverstar and Hot Cares saw the opportunity to help by assisting the school with a 16-litre boiler bucket for hot beverages and providing crockery, food, refreshments, and a few ‘study treats’ for the learners, along with blankets for the staff and students. Along with that the learners also received rechargeable LED lights from Invest Solar to help keep the study camp lights on.

Managing director of Hot Cares Carmen Rocha was of full praise for how much of an impact the programme has on learners. She was also happy with how many learners will be assisted.

“We hope this will ease some of the challenges of hosting all the students and we wish the matriculants all the best for their upcoming exams”.

Managing director of HOT 102.7FM Lloyd Madurai was also very proud of the efforts of the teachers for the significant role they played.

“We salute these fantastic teachers, as well as the learners themselves, who have taken their education into their own hands, and our role is just to highlight the work being undertaken by Patrick and his team and, hopefully, provide them with the exposure to perhaps draw more support for this incredible initiative,” Lloyd added.