Don Mattera gets schooled on road safety

Like many other organisations in the Greater Eldorado Park, the Don Mattera School in Eldorado Park Extension Seven celebrated Mandela Day.

The Eldorado Park Traffic Solutions team (EPTS) visited the school to educate the learners about road safety. Michelle Gardner, who is the founder of EPTS said that her team wanted to give back differently.

“As a team, we decided that instead of handing out gifts and food, we would rather give the school the gift of education on how to utilise the road properly. Many learners walk to school, so knowledge on road safety is extremely important,” said Gardner.

Dineo Maseko from the Department of Community Safety said that the initiative was very close to her heart. “When I received the invite, I immediately cleared my diary because I wanted to be a part of this life-changing programme. I say it is life-changing because with road safety education our children will know how to use the road properly. We have had too many fatalities on our roads, so initiatives like these are important,” said Maseko.

“The Don Mattera School has a very special place in my heart because they have supported our initiatives from the very beginning. The school was present at our road safety march back in June – so it only made sense to come to the school,” she added.

Eric Bachelor who is the principal at the school said that he was grateful to EPTS for choosing his school.

“Road safety should be on everyone’s agenda. I believe that we spent our Mandela Day the right way. Madiba believed in education, so having an educational programme is a great way to give back to our school and community at large. I hope that my students grasp the information and pass it on to their friends and family outside of school,” he said.

The EPTS team sang road safety songs to make learning fun for the learners.