By Levy Masiteng
In a major boost to school sports in Gauteng, education and sport MEC Matome Chiloane has donated equipment to 150 schools.
It forms part of the province’s flagship School Sport Wednesday League programme, which targets identified no-fee schools, including those for learners with special educational needs.
They received 75 football kits and 75 netball kits, including playing kits, balls, bibs, whistles and watches.
The ceremony took place at the Brixton Multipurpose Centre in Johannesburg, where Chiloane emphasised that schools played a vital role in nurturing talent that could become national assets.
“We have resolved that every school should have an extracurricular programme and every learner shall participate in any of the activities within the programme, which will be included in the academic report at the end of the year,” he said.
“Everyone including parents, teachers and community leaders need to get behind this young talent starting from the grassroots and make them believe that they can go on to do well and play for big teams including the national teams.”
The MEC proudly pointed out that Gauteng’s young talent was doing well, “which is a testament to the efforts by the province in strengthening school sports and building champions from the grassroots”.
The programme is set to be implemented in 1270 no-fee schools in the province during the mid-term period, with 381 schools already benefiting.
He said earlier this week that by next year, the league would include more sporting codes such as volleyball and basketball, and “creative arts” would also form part of the programme.
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