Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) Gert Sibande District Committee members took their program of Joe Slovo Campaign to various schools in EMbalenhle.
The main purpose of the project was to engage with learners and school Management to understand the daily challenges and achievements 0f the school and how ready the schools were for the academic year.
The YCLSA also donated sanitary towels to schools as part of its own program to advocate that the sanitary towels need to be free as many learners cannot afford.
“We also made a commitment to the schools to regularly visit them and check academic progress,” said Edward (Obama) Letsimo who further mentioned that they will also engage other stakeholders such as SADTU, SGB, COSAS and other organizations, for schools to reach their long goal of achieving Grade 12 100% pass rate.
The YCLSA noted the below mentioned challenges:
Shortage of schools creates overcrowding in secondary schools and many learners are still roaming the streets as they are not admitted.
Learners from Kinross (Afghanistan) usually miss classes due to scholar transport.
Gangsterism remains a major challenge within the schools and sometimes is gangsters from outside schools
harassing learners.
Police stopped their random search without any communication to the schools.
Some schools raised concern of the involvement of community members and reportedly affect the schools performance badly.