Pretoria - With gender-based violence (GBV) and bullying in schools having been rife in recent years, a non-profit organisation (NPO) has taken it up to themselves to train school children on the subject.
The Impact Facilitation Foundation, through the Bae’skop Filimi school enrichment programme, works with learners who are vulnerable to various types of GBV that include school violence, bullying and exposure to gangsterism.
According to the organisation’s spokesperson Donald Liphoko, the goal of the volunteer-supported programme is to reduce GBV in schools by training learners across the country in preventative skills using film as a medium.
“We found that school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic exposed many inadequacies in our education system and had a negative effect on our children’s well-being.
“Without the daily structure of formal schooling, learners in high school were vulnerable to social vices – alcohol, drugs, teenage pregnancy and gang recruitment,” said Liphoko.
He added that when schooling was normalised, children living in poor households were at risk of being excluded from a quality education because their household incomes would been affected by unemployment and the impact of load shedding on the informal economy.
“When we looked at these impacts on teenage scholars, we found that one in two girls and one in three boys are found to be impacted by gender-based violence, bullying and gangsterism.”
He further said that the glaring challenges in running the programme were the lack of sponsors and donor funding in poor communities, particularly where the township communities have limited social capital.
“There are few funding partners in a township that has no businesses other than spaza shops, car washes, roadside mechanics and taverns.
“What has also been a major challenge is that three of the four schools we are targeting are no-fee paying schools.
“This means that we not only provide training to the scholars, but we also provide transport and nutritional meals,” he said.
The programme started last year with identifying schools that would benefit from it, training facilitators, and bringing on board partners and community stakeholders.
“The first cohort of Grade 8 and 9 scholars started at Far North Secondary School in Johannesburg in April 2023.”
This first group graduated on May 6 and are currently training scholarships in Johannesburg, and looking to expand to Pretoria schools.
“We accept 30 scholars in each group.
“In our Far North Secondary School graduating cohort, 25 scholars graduated which is an 83% completion rate.
Liphoko said that the programme boasts 83% scholar graduation rate and have served up to 90 nutritious meals and 25 first-aid responders trained.
Asked about how the children have received the programme Liphoko said having them graduating with knowledge of how to handle GBV and bullying made all the difference.
“The graduation ceremony is well received.
“The scholars were ecstatic, particularly when we screened the short film they had produced.
“Many of the parents in attendance were surprised that their children had the talent to script and shoot a film.
“The educators have high hopes that this first cohort of Bae’skop Filimi graduates will assist them to change the behaviour of their peers, particularly in reducing and resolving conflict among scholars,” Liphoko concluded.
Pretoria News