This is exacerbated by the economic condition currently beset by numerous points; such as recession and junk status our country finds itself faced with.
Unfortunately, this boils down to a black child.
Recently, Isiseko Junior Secondary School in East London, was in the press following reports that pupils were in severe shortage of desks and proper learning materials.
This is not for the first time such stories hogged headlines, especially in the hardest poorer of the poor areas.
However, a Samaritan Armand Du Plessis-2016 Mr South Africa in partnership with DeskBags MD Shannon Roscher, initiated a campaign to provide the school with 260 free hybrid DeskBags.
Pupils at the school were forced to either use the floor, or sacrifice their chairs to use as a writing surface.
“It was once said that education is the most important tool we can use to change the world. This has been the reason behind my involvement with DeskBags, before my year as Mr South Africa, during my year of reign and now after my reign as Mr South Africa.
I recently came across an article about a school in the Groot Kei area, which left me speechless how little students, which inspired me to get 100 of my friends to support this cause by giving them the gift of education, and most importantly to change the world,” says Du Plessis.
Throughout the country (startling revelations) there are over 3 million children who do not have school desks and are forced to use the ground as a writing surface, according to the minister of basic education Angie Motshekga.
DeskBags’s Roscher explains that the DeskBags campaign is aimed at enabling underprivileged South African students to have access to basic education tool such as a portable desk allowing them to develop to their fullest potential.
“The lack of a desk as a writing surface puts these underprivileged learners at an immediate disadvantage as it affects their handwriting, concentration, eye sight and most noticeably, their overall academic performance.
Roscher says the bags were specifically designed to be tough and durable.
“They are rugged enough that, when well looked after, can last a pupil many years. They have been constructed using recycled billboard materials making the bags tough and waterproof yet light enough to be carried even by a Grade 0 pupils.
DeskBags are also reflective which make school learners visible when walking along busy roads.”
For more information about DeskBags and how you can contribute to their efforts, visit www.deskbags.co.za or contact them directly on info@deskbags.co.za or 011 896 1818.
“A child without education is like a bird without wings,” says a Tibetan Proverb.
