PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Bitou Municipality's annual "Back to School" campaign, which involves the municipality meeting with local schools' management teams to assess their readiness for the year, included something extra this year with some additional stationery being delivered.
Heading the drive this year was Bitou Mayor Dave Swart, accompanied by his deputy, Mavis Busakwe, Speaker Claude Terblanche and other officials. The team visited local public primary schools on 17 and 18 January.
The annual campaign is seen as an opportunity for Bitou leadership to engage with local school management teams. During these sessions the schools highlight their challenges and the municipality seeks ways to assist in addressing those challenges.
In last week's sessions, some of the challenges that arose were overcrowding and lack of classrooms to accommodate growing student numbers; the inability of some parents to ensure their children have school uniforms; school safety issues like vandalism and other crimes and disruptions due to community protests and shutdowns.
The Bitou communications team said the municipality would attempt to find ways to help address these issues. During the visits Swart and his team presented the schools with stationery to supplement what they receive from the Western Cape Education Department.
"This will help the students, especially those whose parents are struggling financially. Both the teachers and learners were delighted with the additions to their stock," the communication team said.
Swart expressed his gratitude to the public who made "generous donations toward the stationery and equipment collected for this worthy cause". He and his team also expressed their appreciation of the teachers who they described as well-prepared for the start of the academic year.
"The goal is to make the academic year pleasant with few or no disruptions.
"Bitou Municipality, as an interested party, will do everything in its ability to eliminate the challenges, including lobbying other departments and stakeholder groups," Swart said.
The municipal team at Kwanokuthula Primary School, where learners and teachers were equally pleased about receiving extra stationery.
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