Three pupils from Parktown High School for Girls have been boycotting classes for seven weeks,
demanding a meeting with Minister of environmental, forestry and fisheries Barbara Creecy.The girls,
whose ages range from 15 to 17 years, were part of the group of young people who had a national
climate change dialogue with Creecy at Aviation Hotel in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni on the 28th of
February.
They started their mission last month because they were concerned that the government was not
doing enough to promote environmental public awareness, so they decided to sit outside their school
every Friday and miss out on hours of classes to grab the minister’s attention.For instance,“ Natural
disasters in KwaZulu-Natal have caused more than R3-billion worth of damage in the past nine months
alone” said,Premier of KZN.
The Grade 12 pupil said at first when they began their mission, she and her fellow schoolmates had
challenges with the school not understanding them but after a series of meetings the teachers began
to understand and started supporting them.
“We want to be part of the initiation process of the policymaking because this is our future that is
going to be affected. We want to go to parliament. We are not fighting but we want to work with
them. I feel this meeting happened because they wanted us to keep quiet,“ said one of the learners.
Creecy said “Today was about information sharing and I wanted to understand their concerns. I have
explained to them that the government was doing a lot and we have put aside a budget for
community outreach programmes to make sure communities understand and know how they can
respond to climate changes.”
With regards to involving young people in policymaking, Creecy said”Everything or policy we make has
to go out for public comment and everyone is welcome to participate through submissions. The issue
is how you enable young people to make public submissions. But I said to them I want to look into this
further.”
After the short meeting with Creecy, the group leader said she was disappointed that she had failed to
address some of their questions and concerns. “The minister could not say exactly what the
government is doing in terms of environmental issues. Instead, she seems to blaming us young people
for not playing a role in spreading the message and changing society’s perceptions around climate
change,” said the 17-year-old pupil.
The Grade 12 pupil said the government has failed teach people about waste management and how
they can respond to climate change. “We suggested that perhaps the government needs to address
the issue of food security and poverty before delving in climate change education. People will never
take the issue of climate change serious when they don’t know where their next meal is going to come
from,” she added.
