HARNESSING
THE ARTS
The power of the creative arts is used in a compelling initiative that communicates positive messages to young people in the North West.
The Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire (Bakwena) launched its drama project in 2012, with the initial aim to focus on road safety issues, especially relating to alcohol abuse as a cause of accidents. The positive response from learners, teachers and parents enabled Bakwena to expand the scope of the programme and to tackle other societal issues.
Some 17 schools in the province are currently involved in the project with 28 teachers and 255 learners using their creative talents to stage productions. Training and workshops are conducted in partnership with the South African Red Cross Society and the Department of Education. Issues such as road safety, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy and poverty are brought out into the open and addressed through peer education.
Participants are encouraged to initiate their own outreach programmes and, in the past year, they reached more than 4 600 learners through drama and creative arts.
Getting Schools On Trac
In 2015 TRAC officially launched its e-learning programme. The immediate impact of this initiative in the Middelburg area was evident in the progress made by learners in passing maths and science at the three participating schools – a substantial average improvement in their matric results from 18 percent in 2014 to 32 percent.
Other projects:
- A five-year refurbishment and upgrade of Trevo School in Mozambique. Since the start of the project in 2014, a block consisting of six classrooms has been renovated, 200 desks have been repaired and a clear-vu fence has been erected around the entire school.
- More than five years ago, TRAC adopted Takheleni Primary School in the 2015/16 financial year; constructed a roof and cement floor in the school’s assembly area. TRAC also partnered with the Department of Education to provide an additional classroom in 2015.
- TRAC has been involved in upgrading the Woodhouse School in Mbombela, which caters for 60 children from impoverished backgrounds. TRAC has provided building materials for the refurbishment of a classroom and the re-surfacing of another mud-wall classroom, as well as assisting the school to establish a vegetable garden in order to strengthen its feeding programme.
