High Schools To Debate Road Safety in Provincial Competition

Nine high schools from the Cape Metropole region will be competing for top honours in the Provincial Road Safety Debate Competition at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 6 September 2014.

The competition will be hosted by the Department of Transport and Public Works and the Township Debating League of UCT.

Each team is made up of five learners from the following schools:

• Sea Point High School
• Centre of Science and Technology
• Strandfontein Secondary School
• Vuyiseka Secondary School
• Mfuleni Secondary School
• LEAP Science and Maths School
• Cape Academy for Mathematics, Science and Technology
• Christel House
• Luhlaza Secondary School.

The schools were selected from pre-provincial elimination rounds held in Samora Michel on 2 and 3 August 2014.

The competition, which forms part of the Road Safety Debate Project of the department, is an innovative participatory education approach to promote road safety awareness amongst young people in the Western Cape.

The project was started by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in 2003. The RTMC noted that because most road fatalities involve people in the age group 18 to 25 years, an effective way of engaging and influencing young road users would have to be found.

It introduced the idea of a high school debating competition across provinces using the World School Style (WSS) debate format. The aim of the competition is to instil a culture of practical road safety among young pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, novice drivers and passengers.

The five best participants (learners) from competing schools will be selected to represent the Western Cape at the National Road Safety Debate Competition in Nelspruit on 8 to 10 October 2014.

The department is committed to working together with tertiary education institutions to raise awareness amongst high school learners about road safety problems through the development of their debating skills.

View the map to the venue for the Provincial Road Safety Debate Competition.