Adopt-a-School, together with Premier Optical, visited Mosaledi Primary School and Sengana Primary School in Hammanskraal in March to dispense spectacles to 58 learners as part of its social welfare drive in School Health Week from 4 to 8 March. Good vision is key to education. Reading, writing, chalkboard work and the use of computers are among visual tasks that learners undertake. When a learner’s vision is impaired, his or her education can suffer.
Social welfare is an important pillar of Adopt-a-School’s Whole School Development model. It includes health, sanitation and sexual education programmes, vision and hearing support programmes, parental workshops, psychosocial support services for orphaned and vulnerable children, and a moral regeneration programme. Since inception the Health, Sanitation and Sexual Education programme has reached 17 670 learners and over 390 parental workshops have been hosted. Support systems for orphaned and vulnerable children have been offered to 3 330 children, 28 339 eyesight tests have been conducted and 2001 spectacles distributed, and 1 140 audiology tests conducted and 23 hearing aids distributed.
The social welfare programme has been made possible through the support of funding partners and donors that include Merafe Resources Limited, Merrill Lynch South Africa, Industrial Development Corporation, Dr James Motlatsi and Peter Hindle.
