Pretoria – The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature will this Saturday host 35 learners from all districts in the province and two metro municipalities to debate the State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered by Premier Phumulo Masualle recently.
Premier Masualle tabled the SOPA at the provincial legislature, where he outlined the programme of action, the provincial government’s achievements and challenges as well as other developmental projects for the 2015/16 Financial Year.
The SOPA Schools Debate Competition is championed by the Office of the Premier in collaboration with the provincial Department of Education.
In this session, participants analyse and identify gaps between the 2014 and 2015 speeches. The participants represent their schools under the watchful eye of 300 learners.
Observers of the debate will include Members of the Executive Council (MECs), Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs), Executive Mayors of Districts and Metro Municipalities, Heads of Departments (HODs), business fraternity and institutions of higher learning within the province.
The 35 learners will compete against each other in five categories. The five categories are English Home Language, English First Additional Language, isiXhosa, SeSotho and Afrikaans.
Three winners will be selected from the five category. Out of the 15 winners, adjudicators will select three overall winners.
The overall winners are selected on the basis of research conducted on the speech, content of the speech and the confidence and presentation skills displayed by the learners. All the winners will be awarded trophies. – SAnews.gov.za
