Over 300 Durban South pupils entered the waste management reading promotion competition with great enthusiasm and confidence in the hope of placing their schools as top environmental ambassadors.
Competitions were held at Amanzimtoti Civic Centre by the South Durban Basin Area Based Management (SDB ABM) in partnership with Durban Solid Waste (DSW), the department of education, parks, libraries and various line departments on 17 and 18 May.
The theme of the programme was in line with the ‘Clean and maintain my city’ campaign and the programme sought to promote environmental literacy, education and empowerment of primary school pupils with an effort to enhance their knowledge on environmental issues as a means of raising awareness.
“Hence this programme was developed to assist pupils in building knowledge, skills, creativity and commitment to collectively address environmental issues,” said municipal services manager, Sifiso Xulu.
“The purpose of the day was to change the pupils’ mindsets by fashioning out a positive attitude towards environmental issues and waste minimisation through reducing, reusing and recycling as a means of endorsing sustainable development.”
During the competition, pupils expressed themselves through storytelling, choral verse, poetry and isichathamiya. These categories allowed pupils to showcase their talents, skills, knowledge of environmental issues and waste management which displayed informative and educational qualities to the entire audience.
“It was inspiring to witness how this programme has encouraged pupils to take care of their environment with great support from their teachers,” said Xulu.
“We applaud the initiative taken by the SDB ABM in partnering with DSW, Umgeni Water, civil society organisations and businesses in raising awareness on environmental issues in primary schools situated within and around the South of Durban.
The promotion of environmental education at a primary school level does not only assist in behavioural change, but it also assists in instilling a culture of taking ownership of our environment.
We are going to document all the ideas provided by pupils throughout the programme and a booklet consisting of essays, songs and poetry will be published for learning and documentation purposes.
As we are nearing World Environmental Day on Sunday, 5 June, we will host the competition finals to commemorate this very important day and continue in our set vision to promote environmental protection,” said Xulu.
