Overberg Education District hosts their first ever girls’ conference | Western Cape Education Department
Overberg Education District hosts their first ever girls’ conference

Overberg Education District hosts their first ever girls’ conference

29 August 2019

On Saturday, 17 August 2019, a girls’ conference was hosted at Swartberg Secondary School in Caledon to support female learners.

The conference was a collaborative approach between the Learner Support Component, School Enrichment, the Circuit Manager and the following schools: Swartberg Secondary, Swartberg Primary, Botriver Primary, Boontjieskraal Primary, The Glebe Primary and Tesselaarsdal Primary.

The rationale for the conference was that learners face difficult circumstances (peer pressure, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, trauma, absent fathers and the lack of role models).

More than 300 female learners from Grades 6 to Grade 12 attended the conference. The learners were exposed to motivational talks by professionals from the fields of Health Sciences, Business and Economics, Engineering, the Military, Agriculture, Social Sciences and Media and Technology. Learners were also exposed to skills such as crafts, food preparation, hairdressing, nail and beauty care, needlework and woodwork.

All the presenters were females from similar backgrounds sharing their life story. The theme for the conference was “my path till now”.

Each learner received a gift demonstrating just how special they are and the organisers said it was a token of their belief that each learner is a superhero.

The long-term goal of the conference is to build sustainable programmes at schools. This could include an “adopt a girl” mentorship programme, skills development, afterschool programmes, a bursary programme, and expanding the initiative to the rest of the district.

Overberg Education District hosts their first ever girls’ conference2