Dignity drive for thousands of pupils
● Social development department programme will see sanitary packs, school shoes and uniforms distributed to underprivileged children
Thousands of girls at schools in Nelson Mandela Bay and across the province will be able to step into the new academic year with confidence after shoe, uniform and sanitary towel drives took centre stage this week.
The Eastern Cape social development department has started distributing sanitary dignity packs to almost 84,000 underprivileged pupils in a multimillion-rand project set to continue for the duration of the financial year.
Social development MEC Bukiwe Fanta said the department would spend R35m on sanitary packs and also assist hundreds of pupils with uniforms through the Social Relief of Distress school uniform programme, in partnership with the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).
“As you will all understand, girl pupils, especially from underprivileged homes, miss a number of learning days due to lack of resources,” Fanta said.
“Now we say no girl pupil will miss school again [for that reason].
“The dignity packs are not just about supplying sanitary towels to young women, it is about making significant, lifechanging differences.”
As part of the department’s back-to-school campaign, Fanta will hand over uniforms to TEM Mrwetyana Secondary School pupils in Makhanda tomorrow.
“They [qualifying pupils] must fall below the poverty line, as determined by Stats SA.
“[The] school uniforms cater for pupils from grade R (where a uniform is required) until they reach grade 12.
“Children are able to receive school uniforms in a two-year cycle, subject to qualifying criteria.
“Social development, working with Sassa, issues school uniforms on demand.
“There is no specific schedule as this happens weekly throughout the entire financial year,” Fanta said.
Sassa spends up to R5,000 a pupil on the uniforms.
Meanwhile, at Mfesane Senior Secondary, pupils were taught yesterday about the dangers of underage drinking by Eastern Cape Liquor Board chief executive Dr Mbuyi Makala, who also donated 30 pairs of shoes along with sanitary products.
Mfesane principal Sakhiwo Nombewu said the school faced the recurring challenge of some pupils being forced to wear worn-out shoes. He thanked the board for the donation, which would instil dignity in the pupils.
“Most of our pupils come from impoverished backgrounds; they grow up with grandparents and depend on grants,” he said.
“The confidence of a pupil depends on what they wear, and that includes having school shoes.”
He said of the school’s 1,515 pupils, 870 were female, and some had dropped out as a result of not having sanitary products.
“This is a national crisis and it would be a good idea if the department were to provide schools with sanitary towels just as it does with stationery.
“Some [pupils] end up using things that are unhygienic for those purposes.”
Makala said underage drinking was a big problem affecting the youth.
“We decided to choose a school in Libode, East London, and we are closing the back-toschool programme with Mfesane Senior Secondary,” she said.
Bay Taverners’ Association secretary Nancy Charles said they were grateful for the donation and hoped the support would spread to surrounding schools.
“We will have to look at other schools so we can support them as well.”