In celebration of Nelson Mandela International Day, the Department of Water and Sanitation will on Tuesday formally adopt the Inzuzwenhle Full-Service School in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, for a period of two years.
Inzuzwenhle Full-Service School was the winner of the 2022 Baswa Le Meetse (Youth in Water) National Adjudication award in the poetry category.
The department said the school has mastered the four focus pillars, which determine it as a water-wise school.
The focus pillars are water wastage, greening of schools, management of toilet facilities, and health and hygiene good practices.
“During the school’s triumphant efforts in the 2022 Baswa Le Meetse National Adjudication in the Poetry category, the school was represented by three learners and guided by two water-wise educators from the school.
“Officials from the Department of Water and Sanitation visited the school to assess their attitude towards water and they found a school with learners that are water-wise in nature and the kind of support they received from their educators,” the department said.
The department said the school with an enrolment of 1 402 learners and 65 educators, was mobilised into the Water and Sanitation Education Programme by one of the outstanding officials of the department in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Office.
The Water and Sanitation Education Programme is school-based, which aims to create awareness on water conservation and integrated water resources management.
“One of the key components of the programme is an Intervention Project, which targets all the previous winning schools in its various competitions to strike a balance between theory and practice, hence the adoption of Inzuzwenhle Full-Service School by the department,” the department explained.
The department added that the Department of Basic Education, as the custodian of schools, is one of the potential key stakeholders for the implementation of the programme.
The adoption of the school on Tuesday will be preceded by a series of activities in and around the school.
The activities will include:
• The cleaning of a river around the school to make people aware about the effects of littering on water quality;
• Educate the community about the importance of water and how to stop water leaks;
• Greening of schools and how it contributes to clean air; and
• Teaching learners about the importance of toilets and how to take care of them.
Celebrated annually in July, the Nelson Mandela International Day has enjoyed 13 years of global support and solidarity since it was launched in 2009. – SAnews.gov.za
