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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Online Reporter

IT was all smiles for 24 learners from Pansikwe Primary School in Insiza District after they received shoes to wear to school under the “isicathulo initiative”.

Stakeholders from Insiza District have started “Isicathulo initiative” which seeks to assist unprivileged children with school shoes.

The stakeholders have created a WhatsApp group titled “isicathulo initiative” to mobilise donations.

Insiza District Development Coordinator, Mr Zachariah Jusah said 48 shoes had remained which will be donated to other schools.

“We donated shoes to 24 learners in Pansikwe Primary School. We had 72 pairs and the remaining shoes will be donated to other schools. We had mobilised these shoes waiting to donate them but we were affected by the Covid-19 induced lockdown which saw schools being closed for a long time,” he said.

Mr Jusah said the learners that benefited were identified by school authorities.

The isicathulo initiative started following a concern that there are children within the community who go to school barefooted and some are at infant stage. Mr Jusah who came up with the initiative then decided to engage various stakeholders and created a WhatsApp platform to mobilise resources.

He said this initiative was going to be a continuous exercise and schools will be benefiting on a rotational basis. He said the plan was to also mobilise school uniforms for the underprivileged children. Mr Jusah also said the target was to expand the initiative to other districts in the province.

@DubeMatutu