SRC donates to needy pupils

The days of going to school with broken shoes – or worse still, without shoes – in the cold are over for the pupils of Sobambisana Primary School in Site B, Khayelitsha.

This is after False Bay College Technical and Vocational Education and Training College’s Student Representative Council (SRC) donated 70 new school shoes to the disadvantaged pupils.

As part of the SRC’s shoes campaign, members were asked to help buy shoes for the poor.

The SRC said it chose Sobambisana because it had a relationship with the school, but added that it was aiming to give shoes to pupils at 63 Khayelitsha schools.

SRC chairperson Phindiwe Mbola said the student council members were familiar with the needs of township pupils because they are also from the townships.

“We want to promote education. We understand how many parents are going through (tough times). Unemployment is a big factor in our areas.

“We understand the pain these children are going through. This gift is from people that understand the pain of our townships,” she said.

Ms Mbola said they were looking forward to working with the school on more projects.

Head of the college, Haido Mteto, said they allowed the SRC to choose the schools they wanted to help.

He said the ultimate goal was to leave a legacy at every school so that the schools could continue on their own with the project.

He added that they want to encourage working parents to contribute funds to keep the initiative up and running.

“We hope it will make a great impact. The donation should make a difference. We also hope that the children will see the value of staying at school. We want them to be at school. It is an open secret that some will register with us in coming years,” Mr Mteto said.

The school principal Mvuyisi Damba expressed his sincere gratitude for the shoe donation, which he said came at the right time for many pupils.

He explained that many of the pupils’ parents were unemployed. “As teachers, we are thankful for this donation. We have a number of pupils that would have had to come to school barefoot. This will surely keep them at school and grow their self-confidence,” he said.