Water and Sanitation Education Programme aims to bring in more young people in the sector
The Department of Water and Sanitation will host a weeklong Water and Sanitation Education Programme (WSEP) at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg 03-07 October 2022, which is aimed at aimed getting high school learners to come up with innovative ways to propel the water and sanitation sector.
The Programme will be held under a number of competitions, which includes the Aqua Enduro action project, an initiative aimed at addressing the skills shortage in the scientific and engineering disciplines, targeting Grade 10- 11 learners.
Aqua Enduro seeks to identify learners who not only have a passion for water and sanitation but also have the determination and discipline it takes to pursue careers in the water sector.
Other competitive projects will take form of public speaking which targets learners from Grade 10-11 that are doing maths and science in school. The learners will be given a theme to research and debate amongst themselves.
While learners from the Intermediate Phase will compete in the Baswa Le Meetse (BLM) action project which requires them to initiate a water or sanitation project within their school and use creativity and innovation to artistically sensitize their communities about what they should be doing to actively save water or educate about proper sanitation in homes.
At the end of the competitions, on Friday, 07 October 2022, the Department will award the winning schools and learners with bursaries, prize money, certificates, and trophies. The bursaries are geared towards studies in the water and sanitation-related careers, whilst the prize money will be used by schools to procure water and sanitation related needs for the sustainability of their projects.
The Water and Sanitation Education Programme is one of the most successful programmes of the Department which has seen a number of young water and sanitation professionals excel in their expertise within the Department and the entire sector as a whole.
The programme takes places in various schools across the country and the winning teams will be representing their provinces this week at the national adjudication programme.
Though the programme, the Department aims to create more employment opportunities in the country while also bridging the skills gap which exists in the sector.
Thus far, a total of 800 learners have been awarded bursaries to pursue careers in the water and sanitation sector while 3500 schools have been supported through the programme since its inception.
In 2015 the programme was recognised for its achievement by the United Nations and awarded the “Water for life best practice” Award.
For more information, contact Sputnik Ratau, Spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation on 082 874 2942
