Active wetland education centre is in dire trouble
Lack of funds to maintain the infrastructure at the Blesbokspruit Environmental Education Centre is curbing the education of primary school children.
The centre is situated at the Blesbokspruit Ramsar site and, according to environmentalist Stan Madden, is the metro’s only active centre of this nature.
Charl van der Merwe, chairman of the Blesbokspruit Conservation Trust, says they introduced 2 778 learners to the wetland last year and have exposed many more to the importance of wetlands over the past 15 years.
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This year, to date, 1 562 learners have attended the three hour hands-on environmental education presentation which is conducted in accordance with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) curriculum for Grade Six, Seven and Grade 10.
“The learners in these grades focus on wetlands in their social science class,” says Charl.
Patrick Gana, the environmental education officer, explains the importance of wetlands, pollution and recycling to the learners.
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The learners also have an opportunity to experience the wetland with activities such as water sampling, bird watching and identification.
Charl says although the Grootvlei Blesbokspruit Conservation Trust receives a committed sponsorship from Carnival City and Impala Platinum, the money is just enough to pay the staff and for consumables.
The trust has also received support from Gold One who sponsored eight schools to attend classes at the education centre over the past two terms.
“The Ekurhuleni Metro also sent children to the centre last term and paid for their transport and refreshments, for which the trust is grateful.
“These two opportunities made it possible for Patrick to fulfill his purpose,” says Charl.
He believes they will probably not take any children for environmental education from the second term next year as they would have run out of money to transport the learners to the centre and to give them refreshments after the lectures, by then.
At this stage Charl believes the only way to keep the centre running is for more companies across the East Rand to become involved, and sponsor the programme.
For more information about the programme, Charl can be contacted on 083 415 2590 or cjvdm53@gmail.com
