Nelson Mandela’s birthday last week provided an important opportunity to reflect on the values he represents and our commitment to building a future based on these values.

Our challenge in education is to ensure that our children understand this legacy and have the values, attitudes and skills needed to build a society we can be proud of.

These values include compassion, tolerance, respect for human dignity and human rights, responsibility and the importance of education.

We believe that planting a tree is an excellent way in which to commemorate Nelson Mandela and the values her represents.

Hopefully, the tree will grow from strength to strength over the next 95 years and will serve to remind future generations of the values we stand for.

The Western Cape Education Department and the City of Cape Town have therefore arranged to provide trees to schools to commemorate Nelson Mandela in this way.

Stocks are limited at the moment to 250 trees, available from the City nursery in Union Avenue, Newlands.

We will look at ways of expanding this project, depending on demand and the future availability of trees. Schools could also purchase trees of their choice for this purpose.

We invite schools to exchange the attached, completed form for a tree before Wednesday, 31 July 2013, between 08h00 and 15h00. Feel free to check on available stocks by phoning our call centre at 0861 923322.

Kind regards

SIGNED: PENNY VINJEVOLD
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2013:07:22