Pretoria - The Vodacom Foundation, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education, today launched a national stationery drive worth over R6 million in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria.
Through the initiative, Vodacom will provide stationery to 180 000 learners from quintile one and two primary and high schools.
A total of 60 000 primary school learners and 120 000 high school learners across the country will each receive a stationery pack.
Each pack comprises a pencil case, pencils, a sharpener, an eraser, ball point pens and a ruler. A scientific calculator will also be included in the pack for high school learners.
“The private sector plays a critical role in the provision of much-needed resources. The stationery packs that you have so generously given to our learners will certainly help them. With limited resources, government cannot do it alone. Education is a societal issue and we thank Vodacom for the contribution,” said Basic Education Deputy Minister Enver Surty.
“To Vodacom, thank you so much for showing you care for our learners. Thank you for connecting children to the world through a lifeline of education,” he said.
The key objective of the stationery drive is to support the Department of Basic Education in its duties by providing support to disadvantaged schools in South Africa.
“Our goal is to ensure that learners throughout the country have access to some basic tools to start off the new school year,” Vodacom’s Chief Officer: Corporate Affairs, and Chairman of the Vodacom Foundation, Maya Makanjee, said.
Vodacom employees across the country have volunteered their time to distribute the stationery packs to the 210 schools nationwide.
The launch forms part of the department’s objectives of broadening access to information and reading material. It is through such partnerships that this goal is becoming a reality.
The project will assist in bridging the divide by providing the necessary books and materials as well as teaching aids to teachers where there is a lack of such resources.
Other Vodacom Foundation social investment programmes in the area of education include the:
- information and communication technology (ICT) schools connectivity project that is aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools across the country;
- Vodacom Bursary Scheme, which supports learners by providing bursaries in the science and technology fields;
- Vodacom Millionaires programme, which donates four computer centres to public schools in South Africa every month; and
- support to the Department of Basic Education in its food security programme. – SAnews.gov.za
