Swazi Observer

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ENCAC TAKING FIVE PUPILS TO ROBBEN ISLAND

By Simon Shabangu | 2018-08-10

ESWATINI National Council of Arts and Culture will be taking five pupils to Cape Town for this year’s annual Spring School happening in Robben Island, the CEO Stanley Dlamini has said.

Dlamini said this comes after his office received an invitation from the Robben Island Museum, which is an agency of the department of arts and culture in South Africa.

The CEO made the announcement of this trip during the Macmillan sponsored Schools Arts and Culture prize presentation held at Happy Valley Hotel on Wednesday evening.

Dlamini said this was an educational nine day visit to the famous Island where political prisoners, including the late President Nelson Mandela, were jailed.

The five pupils who were picked from different schools will depart on September 27 and return on October 6.

Dlamini said they used the school’s culture project sponsored by Macmillan Education to identify excelling pupils in the different disciplines who will now be representing the country in the initiative which will include pupils from different countries around the SADC region.

The excelling pupils are; Mdumseni Sikhondze from Lobamba who was selected from the music discipline, Lindokuhle Maphanga from Elangeni who excelled in performing arts and poetry, Bheki Masango from Ekuvinjelweni who was the best in Sibhaca, Nompendulo Mthethwa from Ngwane Park who did well in Ummiso and Temalangeni Bhembe from St Mark’s who was the best in drummies.

The Spring School is an annual programme conducted by the Robben Island Museum Public Heritage Education Department, that is one of the flagship projects which has been running since 1998.

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This is a programme designed to foster in the youth a lasting interest in heritage and through multi-disciplined workshops where participants are encouraged to engage on issues aimed at addressing social instability, national building and rebranding of the African continent.

“We are proud to announce that we will be sending these youngsters to this important programme where we hope they will benefit a lot and come back to be even better people in their different art disciplines.

We have used a transparent method to identify these children who come from five different schools and through the assistance of the Eswatini Schools Culture we were able to identify these young stars who we believe will represent us well and also come back to impart the skills to their peers,” he said.

Dlamini thanked Macmillan for their contribution towards the hosting of the Schools Culture competition, noting that it goes a long in instilling discipline among the children at school level so that they become better citizens in future.

He said competing in culture does not only end as a competition but adds many values to a child’s upbringing and well being as they grow.

He also commended the teachers for doing a great job in training the children to become what they are when it comes to arts and culture. He said pupils must know that being engaged in extra-curricula activities plays a huge role in improving the performance of a child in class.

Macmillan MD Busisiwe Simelane, who is also the Chairperson of the ENCAC board, said the company was pleased by the performances and the level of professionalism in which the competitions were run.

She said the company would continue sponsoring the competitions as it has proven to be a cornerstone of promoting arts and culture in the schools.

She said the talent witnessed in the different schools around the country was amazing.

She personally did not have such opportunity growing up but would ensure that she provides an enabling environment for the children to explore and express themselves through arts and culture.

She said the company’s objective is to ensure that a child is educated holistically, hence they would continue to sponsor these activities.

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