After months of gruelling competition from district, provincial to national level, Sitintile Secondary School from Mpumalanga took first place position at the 2022 Heritage Education School Outreach Programme (HESOP) camp held by the National Heritage Council in partnership with the Department of Basic Education at SANPARK’s Marakele National Park in Thabazimbi, Limpopo.
The weeklong camp saw the 36 learners from the eight participating schools working tirelessly hard in preparing for their presentations on the research work. In addition to the research topic that the teams had to conduct prior to the camp, they were further given an impromptu topic following the game drive in Marakele national park. The students learned about the history of the park, the preservation of its cultural and natural heritage and bidoversity.
Thuto Tsebo Secondary School from North West, took second place. Third place went to Selelekela Secondary School of the Free State and the Gauteng Suncrest High School claiming fourth place. All participants titled as Heritage Ambassadors each received certificates with medals. Winners of the 1st place received laptops and 2nd place received tablets whilst the 3rd and 4th place winners received smartphones.
Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni, Chief Executive of the NHC, “Congratulations to all the young people that participated in the 2022 HESOP camp and mostly our educators through the Department of Basic Education and all partners; SAHRA, SANPARKS, Brand SA, and NYDA. Without your support and contribution towards this education outreach programme, it wouldn’t have been a success.”
For the past 13 years, the National Heritage Council has been spearheading this programme with the aim of inculcating the culture of self-appreciation and national identity.
“Knowledge about heritage in their communities during presentations, mostly research, presentation and time management skills as well as team work are some of the skills set to prepare them as future leaders,” concluded Lukhwareni.
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