The debating team from the Lephola Secondary school took first place in the debating leg of the povincial competitions for South African Youth Water Prize, Aqua Enduro and Public Speaking (Youth Programmes).
The competitions took place on 6 March in Bloemfontein.
The Lephola team are the top debaters in the Department of Sanitation’s water conservation debating competitions.
“This was the first time that the team has entered a science related competition, and they came first,” says Madibata Tau, an educator at the school.
Tau says this is a very big project run by the DWS. “The topic was ‘The increased threat of climate change to the environment and water resources necessitates communities to take radical action.’
“With this topic the team managed to win the district eliminations and proceeded to the provincials in Bloemfontein where they also took the first position and surpassed all the schools in the province. They will now represent the province at the nationals, either in Cape Town or Gauteng,” says a proud Tau.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has implemented an education programme called the Water and Sanitation Education Programme (WSEP).
The programmes are aimed at recognizing the role of youth in their efforts of educating schools and communities about water use efficiency,
