LIMPOPO – Over 200 learners from disadvantaged families across the Vhembe district will no longer have to go to school without proper school uniforms.
The MEC for the Department of Social Development, Nkakareng Rakgoale launched the provincial programme to hand out school uniforms to identified learners.
The learners have been assessed and identified as needy by social workers in different communities across the province.
On February 11 the handover programme started in Vuwani area in Collins Chabane Municipality when Rakgoale was joined by the Vhembe Mayor, Dowelani Nenguda and the Collins Chabane Mayor, Moses Maluleke, where about 220 learners benefitted from the donation.
Rakgoale said children have the right to better education and as the social development department, they cannot stand on the sidelines when needy learners are going to school in tattered clothes.
According to Rakgoale, some beneficiaries of the programme are orphans and come from child-headed families as no one is responsible for their educational needs.
“We are also worried as the department that many girls are reported to drop out of school due to teenage pregnancy in the Vhembe district.
“We want to donate uniforms and motivate learners to study hard. We cannot afford the situation where young girls are also mothers who don’t work because they have children at tender ages,” said Rakgoale.
She added the learners also received school bags.
Maluleke admitted that more girls are reportedly dropping out of schools due to teenage pregnancies in his municipality, and added they are trying by all means to encourage them to take education seriously with programmes such as the Go-Back-to-School Campaign and handing over school uniforms among other initiatives.
Nkhangweleni Dzivhani, who represented the Vhembe Department of Education, said education is a societal responsibility and if all people, including parents, are ready to join hands, we will have better future leaders who are educated.
Dzivhani added as the department, they are relieved with the donation of school uniforms, as many rural learners went to school barefoot and without proper uniforms. The beneficiaries thanked the donors for the donation.
