The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s CSI department has begun the year in full swing, by bringing back it’s ‘Back to School Campaign’ which has seen the lives of South African learners being positively impacted over the years.
This year, the SABC will be donating 60 laptops in 3 provinces namely; Free State Province, Limpopo Province and Western Cape Province. In 2021/2022 the SABC donated 60 laptops in Northern Cape Province, Eastern Cape Province and Mpumalanga Province.
On 23 January 2023, the public broadcaster made a donation of 20 laptops to Virginia High School in the Free State, which, introduced its first Grade 12 class in 2022 and achieved just over a 90% matric pass. The handover event was graced by the Free State’s MEC of Education Mr. Tate Makgoe. MEC Makgoe expressed his excitement with the work that SABC is doing and encouraged other corporate companies to do the same, in support of Education.
The SABC’s Head of Communications and Stakeholder Relations, Ms. Ndileka Cola stated “SABC CSI is proud of this back to school initiative, as we do not see it as spending funds but investing in the future of our youth through access to tools which will further develop their educational journey. The donation of laptops has provided many positives to the schools we have interacted with thus far and it is a sustainable project. The donations also speak to government’s efforts to have everyone participating in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the public broadcaster playing its role in fulfilling that mandate. We are excited, as the laptops will assist learners from grade 8 to start operating a computer. In our criteria for selecting institutions of learning, we look for schools that teach CAT and we also request the principals to allow other learners who don’t take CAT as a subject to be taught basic computer literacy skills.”
Cola further added “As we are all aware that all higher education institutions make use of digital lectures, we saw the need to empower learners by donating laptops, which is our key contribution to ‘Back to School Campaign’.”
In order to ensure all our handover events are a success, the SABC’s Provincial Regional Operations Manager’s (ROM) and the radio stations in the regions, play a key role in identifying schools, scanning the environment, as well as the implementation and raising awareness around the campaign.
The SABC strives to initiate CSI activities which are not only in line with its public mandate, but will have sustainable and positive impact on the lives of South African that it engages with. The public broadcaster will also continue to partner with civil organisations, as changing our society for the better is a journey enhanced when we work together.
