It has been proven that during the school holidays children are exposed to a number of social ills and the Gauteng Department of Education in partnership with other Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) departments have developed school holidays programme which seeks to protect children by removing them from streets during the holidays.
The programme is aimed at involving young people over the holiday periods and to improve the quality of their lives by protecting them against the social ills (e.g. teen pregnancies, under-age drinking, physical abuse, drugs and substance abuse, vandalism, violence) that may impair their development and ability.
The project will be community and school based and it will focus on culture, art, sport and the promotion of values in education moral regeneration dialogues. 4 000 learners per day from Grade R to Grade 9 from 22 priority townships will be targeted.
Learners will be divided according to phases (foundation, intermediate and senior). Five districts will be targeted per holiday period thus 800 learners per district will benefit.
The programme does not intend to take over the responsibility of parents and care givers as young people will be kept at school for at most four hours except when they are visiting the heritage sites/Sci-bono or are involved in sporting activities.
Issued by: Department of Education, Gauteng Provincial Government
6 April 2010
Source: Department of Education, Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.education.gpg.gov.za/)
