Africa: The Mpumalanga Department of Education extends its profound appreciation to all schools and stakeholders that participated in the 2022 Rhandza Xikolo Xawena Campaign.
To this end, the Department invites nomination for the Inaugural Provincial Cleanest School Award.
This award is intended to be a prestigious honour that seeks to recognise and appreciate the cleanest school in the Province within quintiles 1 to 3.
It is important that our schools are kept clean, as learners learn more effectively in a clean school.
A Clean school promotes positivity and is related to educational success. A clean school ensures a positive and healthy environment for everyone involved.
The cleanest school must establish and maintain a clean and tidy classroom environment.
Its outside ambience must be neat and has flowers, food gardens and well-cared-for trees.
The physical infrastructure should be in a good state, well maintained and improved on an ongoing basis.
Roadways, car parking spaces and leisure spaces for learners should be well designed and taken good care of.
Learners at this school are taught the importance of cleanliness, environmental awareness, and the implications of climate change and are fully responding to such lessons.
Levels of infighting and bullying amongst learners are zero, and there are no incidents of illicit drug abuse and trafficking.
Leaners wear school uniforms at all times and adhere to the School Code of Conduct, and are highly motivated.
Leaners do their part as well to keep the school grounds clean by ensuring that any garbage is thrown to designated bins and sites.
Learners must be highly disciplined and always in tidy school uniforms.
Teachers are united and work collaboratively at all times.
Incidents of teacher absenteeism are limited, and there is harmony in the staff rooms.
Incidents of corporal punishment, infighting and backstabbing amongst teachers are non-existence.
Teachers have truly embraced the Code of Conduct as espoused by the South African Council for Educators.
The School Management Teams are truly committed, motivated, united and empower teachers at all times.
Teachers are very much focused, go the extra mile and work towards the improvement of the school.
Teachers work very well with the School Governing Bodies and have embraced integrity and honesty.
Teachers have good work ethics and display high professional conduct in words, deeds and character.
The School Governing Body is democratically elected, functional and truly representative of the aspirations of all parents as well as the surrounding community.
The School Governing Body works collaboratively with the school management teams and supports the development of the school.
The School Governing Body is united and has denounced incidents of corruption and infighting.
The School Governing Body has a clear vision to take the school to greater heights.
In the case of secondary schools – the Representative Council for Learners is democratically elected in line with the dictates of the South African Schools Act and fairly represents the wishes of all learners at the school.
The Representative Council for Learners works collaboratively with all the structures at the school and supports all the learning and teaching processes.
The Representative Council for Learners ensures that incidents of bullying, drug intake or trafficking, infighting, and sexual harassment do not take place or are reported to authorities at the school.
PROCESS OF NOMINATIONS
Schools are expected to convene meetings to discuss this matter during the week ending on 12 August 2022.
After such a meeting, each school will submit a motivation which must be co-signed by the Principal and the Chairperson of the School Governing Body to the Circuit Manager on or before 19 August 2022.
Each Circuit Manager will be expected to establish a team that is inclusive of structures that are active in the education space to adjudicate. The adjudication process must be transparent, fair and free from any prejudice.
Each Circuit Manager must submit one nominated school to the District Director with a clear and detailed motivation explaining why that school is nominated by the Circuit. This must be done on or before 30 August 2022.
It is mandatory that all circuits participate in this process and nominate a deserving school based on the criteria stated above.
The District Office will establish a committee that will receive nominations from circuits and conduct verifications and adjudication.
The District Office will, after adjudication, submit the name of a school to contest for the award on behalf of the District to the Head: of Education on or before 09 September 2022.
Head Office will, upon receipt of the nominations from Districts, undertake the necessary verifications and adjudication process.
Subsequently, the Department will convene an Award Ceremony in the backdrop of World Clean-Up Day, which is celebrated on 18 September.
The Department requests that the process be managed in a fair and transparent manner in keeping with the spirit of working together and the Rhandza Xikolo Xa Wena Campaign.
