Jeppe and Parktown schools promote Gender-Based Violence awareness
Jeppe High School for Boys, Jeppe High School Girls, Parktown Boys’ High School, and Parktown High School for Girls will meet on the Boden AstroTurf on Friday at an event to raise awareness about Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
Sanitary towels and clothes will also be collected during the event, which begins at 15:00 with the u14A teams in action and concludes with Jeppe Boys versus Parktown Boys at 19:30.
The sanitary items will be donated to less privileged girls while the clothing will go to women’s shelters. Jeppe Girls’ Head of Sport, Joy Toerien, said: “Old clothing or shoes and sanitary products can be dropped off at either Jeppe High School for Girls or Jeppe High School for Boys.”
She emphasised the need to raise awareness of gender-based violence, adding: “We want to create awareness around this topic because we are in a crisis, and we want to create environments where we encourage teenagers to become healthy, functioning adults, where they are kind and caring in their homes as adults, are good role models, where they are good husbands and wives, fathers and mothers,” she said.
Toerien went on to explain how sports can be used to help shape young people into valuable citizens.
“Teenagers love to do adult things but do not have the emotional capacity to deal with the consequences of adult actions,” Toerien said. “Sport creates a competitive but healthy environment where coaches can teach and reach learners beyond the classroom and teach them valuable life lessons.”
She said she would also like to see the drive that the four schools will share extend to other schools. “We would encourage other schools to brand their sports clothing with ‘Say no to GBV’, to host events where we can create awareness within the community, reach out to schools to join up with choirs and bands, it doesn’t have to stop or be sport only.”
Organised under the theme “Unite Against GBV”, Friday’s game will use sport as a unifying force to educate students, promote respectful relationships, and stand in solidarity with survivors of gender-based violence.
The school also said that an outcry about incidents, such as #justiceforCwecwe, has highlighted an urgent need for collective action.
