Isolomzi learners address faction fighting in their community
The issue of faction fighting has been addressed in the rural area of Centane in the Butterworth district of the Eastern Cape, thanks to a proactive group of eleven Grade 10 learners from Isolomzi Senior Secondary School.
On Friday 30 May, Isolomzi Senior Secondary School was named as the Eastern Cape winner in the Youth Citizens Action Programme’s (YCAP) 2014 competition.
106 learners from schools from most of the districts of the province participated in the competition. The award ceremony took place at East London’s Miriam Makeba Centre.
Isolomzi Senior Secondary School’s project concentrated on addressing the issue of faction fighting, a problem of tribal unrest which has persisted within the Centane community since the days of Shaka Zulu. With the aim of increasing awareness and combating the problem of faction fighting, the learners initiated a roadshow, a door-to-door campaign and a communal gathering through which they managed to broker peace between the factions.
Other top performing schools include Thakabanna Senior Secondary in the Mount Fletcher district and Kwa Komane Secondary School in the Queenstown district who came second and third respectively. Both these projects concentrated on combatting substance abuse in their schools.
A Great Effort Award was presented to Bizana Senior Secondary from the Mbizana district for their drama, poetry and creativity in addressing the bullying problem at their school.
Powered by Empowervate, The Youth Citizens Action Programme is a competition-based programme that encourages Grade 10 learners from underperforming high schools to enter projects that they have undertaken to improve an identified problem within their school or community.
“This year’s competition was the most competitive to date involving 3600 learners from 360 schools from all 9 provinces of the country. The projects presented encompass an exceptionally wide range of topics representing challenges affecting the schools and the communities across South Africa,” said Amanda Blankfield-Koseff, founder and CEO of the Empowervate Trust which powers YCAP and partners with the Department of Basic Education, Deutsche Bank South Africa Foundation, UTi SA Mounties Division, Heartlines and Afrika Tikkun.
Winners of each provincial competition will travel to the national event which will be held in Durban on 28 June. The national winners will receive R10 000 towards the implementation of their project in their school.
