With World Water Day on the 22nd of March, and South Africa’s National Water Week also celebrated, March is an unofficial Water Month. Three years into the worst drought in the country’s history, the awareness of the importance of water-saving is high across the country. But awareness is not enough. With both Cape Town and Port Elizabeth desperately trying to avoid Day Zero by adhering to a 50-litre per person per day target, South Africans need to truly transform to a water-saving lifestyle by changing their daily water habits.

This message that there are actions that every person must take to reduce our national water usage is the core of an interactive learner lesson that is being brought by the Woolworths Educational Programme for Primary schools to Grade 5 classrooms around the country during month of March. Today, four x 30 minute, curriculum-aligned lessons were delivered by a professional presenter at Pelican Park Primary School in Grassy Park.

Covering facts about the importance of water for all life, the scarcity of fresh water in South Africa and threats to our fresh water, such as pollution; the lessons aim to educate and inspire water conservation for the Grade 5 learners and their educators. An important component of the lesson was engaging the children in identifying the ways that they can help save water at home, at school and in their communities. For the learners and educators of Nerina Primary, this means learning how they can now each manage on 50 litres of water per day. After the lessons, the Woolworths Educational Programme educator resource on the importance of water and water conservation, and related worksheets are then provided to the teachers so that they can continue to reinforce the learning in their classrooms.

“Protecting the country’s scarce water resources is one of our Woolworths core sustainability priorities,” comments Pieter Twine, Woolworth’s General Manager of Loyalty and MySchool, “With such severe drought conditions, there’s a great sense of urgency this year to support schools not just in educating our children about the importance of this precious resource, but also to facilitate action. The roll-out of water lessons during March, particularly in the Western and Eastern Cape, aims to help these learners and their families play their part in avoiding Day Zero by achieving their 50-litre per person per day targets.”

Over the past 4 years, the Woolworths Educational Programme has presented 4500 water lessons across the country reaching more than 190 000 learners and 1559 teachers in 410 Primary schools.

CAPTIONS:

  1. Class pic: Pelican Park Primary Grade 5i learners with Woolworths Education Programme representative Elvino Rubain and class educator Mrs A Hendricks enjoying a fun lesson on the importance of saving water.
  2. Grade 5i learners: Pelican Park Primary Grade 5i learners learning valuable tips to save water at home and in the school. From left to right: Ethan Pillay, Ethan Naidoo, Elvino Rubain (Woolworths Education Programme school lessons presenter), Amber Bent Madadhir Abrahams, Antonio Davids and seated in front (from left to right): Abdul-Baasit Allie, Donte Philander and Naushaad Martin.
  3. Grade 5h learners: Pelican Park Primary Grade 5h learners learning all about the importance of saving water with Elvino Rubain (Woolworths Education Programme school lessons presenter). From left to right: Uzair Charles, Brady Műller, Natheerah Lombard, Dinika Naidoo and Jawaad Gabriels.