Engen, a leading South African petroleum company committed to community involvement and social upliftment donated nine chalk boards to Limpopo’s poorest schools.  The chalk boards were presented at a handover event held at Valdezia Higher Primary School in the Vhembe District on April 3rd, which was attended by guest of honour, Dikeledi Magadzi, the MEC of Education in Limpopo.

Awareness starts early on

Tasneem Sulaiman-Bray, Engen’s GM of Corporate Affairs, says the decision was made to donate the chalk boards as part of Engen’s Klevakids Paraffin Safety Awareness campaign which commences later this year and will reach 20 schools in the Limpopo area.

“Klevakidz ties in with current life skills curricula and schools were the natural backdrop to the campaign. It does important work reaching poorer sectors of society that depend on paraffin for cooking and heating. Kids with working parents are often left in charge of younger siblings and manage day-time cooking, and they need to be made aware of the burn, ingestion and smoke inhalation risks of paraffin.”

Greatest need

Sulaiman-Bray says Engen first used the chalkboards on an internal Engen human capital programme . “We realised what a big difference they would make in the country’s poorest schools – some of which operate without the luxury of classrooms.” Fittingly, Klevakidz 2014 focused on Limpopo, where the country’s education shortfalls are highly apparent. “We approached the provincial department for permission to conduct paraffin safety awareness activities in a number of Limpopo schools. As part of the talks, we introduced the idea for the chalk boards, and this was enthusiastically received,” Sulaiman-Bray says.

The following schools, identified in partnership with the Limpopo Department of Education, will receive chalk boards:

•Valdezia Higher Primary School
•Krause Farm Primary School
•Shihlobjeni Primary School
•Bogaleng Primary School
•Seobi Primary School
•Joseph Maenetya Primary School
•Suswe Primary School
•Tshipise Primary School
•Ntepane Primary School