Boost as new school bags do double duty as lap desks
“WE NO longer have to do our homework on kitchen tables or floors. We can now do our homework in our rooms. We thank you for this,” Aphiwe Mahawuza said yesterday.
He was one of 1 000 pupils at Siyazingisa Primary School in Gugulethu to receive school bags which double up as lap desks.
The waterproof bags are made from recycled billboards and the flaps are made from durable cardboard which the children can use as a lap desk.
Aphiwe said he had battled to do his homework because he had to kneel next to his bed as his siblings disturbed him in the living room.
“I have to kneel on the floor while doing my homework on the bed. Most of us don’t have tables to do our homework. Now we will have privacy to do our homework,” he said.
Nine-year-old Tatum Dickson said she was glad she no longer had to do her homework at the kitchen table, where the family often gathered.
School principal Noludewe Nonkonyana said there had been a problem at the school with pupils not being able to do their homework because they had no space at home.
Nonkonyana said most of the pupils at Siyazingisa Primary School lived in shacks that they had to share with other family members.
“They live in a cramped environment. The kids tell us about these problems and many times we visit the homes where we see their circumstances for ourselves,” said Nonkonyana.
“These desk bags will increase the number of pupils doing their homework, which will improve our pupils’ academic performance,” she said.
The bags would also make life easier for pupils, many of whom used plastic bags to carry their books to school.
The bags were donated by Converse SA and DeskBags.
Co-founder of DeskBags, Shannon Roscher, said the DeskBags idea came to her while she was driving through Alexandra in Johannesburg three years ago.
“I saw children carrying their books in plastic bags with old ice cream tubs. When I asked them why, they said the plastic bag was their school bag while the ice cream tubs were to write on,” she said.
Roscher said one little boy said his back and neck were in pain from having to do his homework on a plastic tub.
“My mother and I then decided to come up with a concept to help kids carry their books and have a place to write on,” she said. nicolette.dirk@inl.co.za
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