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South Africa: Schools World Cup to Inspire Nation's Children
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BuaNews (Tshwane)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
The Schools World Cup was launched on Saturday in an effort to stimulate excitement around the 2010 FIFA World Cup for the 12 million school pupils in South Africa, writes Simangaliso Zwane.
The South African Schools Football World Cup is a partnership between government departments, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the Local Organising Committee (LOC).
Music, dance and cheer was the order of the day as groups from participating schools shared the stage and rendered cultural items to the delight of the crowd.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor kicked off the games and posed for pictures with pupils from the eight schools that attended the launch of the partnership.
Saturday's launch also saw the opening of a two-phase competition.
Schools are to assume the identities of the participating countries and will be encouraged to fly that country's national flag, sing its national anthem and engage in activities such as preparing the national food of the country they represent.
She made an avid appeal to all participating pupils to learn as much as they could about the countries they would be representing in the tournaments.
"We are then preparing our young people to enjoy the world cup with a key understanding of the diverse world we live in.
"We are encouraging young people to know about other countries and their cultures.
"My department is proud to be at the centre of coordinating this significant event, with the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Organising Committee," said Ms Pandor, adding that this will encourage mass youth participation in football and help nurture young boys and girls.
Ms Pandor said the initiative was also aimed at luring school children away from the streets and inappropriate habits, and encouraging them to engage in healthy lifestyles.
"The launch of this partnership in Soweto must motivate us to use school sport to encourage physical activities and healthy lifestyles.
"The competition must also remind us about our commitment to the HIV and Aids awareness campaign, to our commitment to anti-doping and to our commitment to prevent substance abuse among young people and our citizens generally," said Ms Pandor.
LOC Chairman Irvin Khoza said the millions of school children being targeted by the initiative would help spread the message about the world cup to families and communities.
"Consequently schools have been identified as a primary vehicle to take the world cup messages not only to children, but indeed to families and to communities of South Africa and also the African continent," he said.
The 2010 Fifa World Cup School Campaign is built on three key pillars namely education, development and participation.
"The other goals of the campaign are to ensure the development and implementation of integrative educational campaign aiming at preparing and educating learners and teachers about all aspects of the world cup, said Mr Khoza.
The participating schools on Saturday were Lavela Secondary, Emdeni High School, Zithathele Primary School, Ekuphumeleleni Primary, Progress, Winnie Ngwekazi High, Moletsane Secondary and Kliptown Secondary.
LOC spokesperson Tim Modise said the partnership would give school children a chance to actively participate in the world cup.
"The world cup is going to involve all South Africans, Africans and particularly South African children.
"We are ready, we will participate, we will mobilise," he said.
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen encouraged fair play throughout the competition and urged learners to stay away from illegal performance enhancers and drugs.
"It is a natural attribute of human beings to compete, but the way in which we compete sets us apart, we need to apply the rules of the game and not cheat.
"We need to ensure that we do not take performance enhancing substances and cheat in a calculated and manipulative way, we also need to say Ke Moja [no to drugs]" said Mr Oosthuizen.
District competitions for the South African Schools Football World Cup will take place from 16 May to 16 August, followed by Provincial competitions from 30 August to 14 September 2008 and finals from 20 to 23 March 2008.
The launch of the partnership coincided with a significant day in South African history.
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On May 10 in 1994, struggle stalwart and former South African President Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
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