Western Cape Education (WCED) MEC Debbie Schäfer has launched a poetry competition by the WCED for schools.

In a press release by the WCED, it conveys the details about this school library competition in which learners can help their school win R25 000 to spend on school library resources.

This year, it will take the form of a poetry competition, with the theme of My Covid Journey.

In a press release, Ms Schäfer said: “I chose this theme in acknowledgement of the profound impact that the pandemic has had on our learners.

“I was therefore extremely excited to visit Laerskool Laurus in Oudtshoorn earlier this year to celebrate the start of National Book Week, only to find that some of the school’s learners read poems they had written themselves, including one on Covid-19 by a Grade 3 learner.”

She spoke of how she has been amazed by the resilience of the learners in dealing with the challenges and coping with the impact of the pandemic on their everyday lives and learning environments.

“We need to recognise this impact, and also provide an opportunity for learners to express how they are feeling about it, to help them to heal from the mental and emotional trauma it has caused them.”

Schools are invited to enter the competition and the department has suggested a few questions to guide learners in writing their poems:

How do you feel about the Covid-19 pandemic?

How has it affected you and your school?

How has it affected your family and friends?

How do we move forward from here and how can your school library help?

Each school can collate as many poems from the learners at their school as they like, to form a single entry for submission. Six schools will be awarded a prize of R25 000 each to spend on library resources – an increase in prize money from last year.

Three secondary schools will receive R25 000 each for winning entries in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, and three primary schools will receive R25 000 each for winning entries in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.

The closing date for the competition is Tuesday 30 November 2021. Any school interested in entering can contact Timothy Cloete from Education Library and Information Services (EDULIS) for more information at, timothy.cloete@westerncape.gov.za