Provincial Participatory Education Techniques Open Day

On Saturday 28 July 2018, teams of Grade 10 and 11 learners from three Western Cape schools participated in the annual Provincial Participatory Education Techniques (PET) Open Day at Gene Louw Traffic College (GLTC). Through PET, learners team up in groups of five learners to identify road safety problems near their schools and present their proposed solutions to a team of adjudicators who choose the best teams in three competition categories: urban, rural and disability. PET is one of the flagship programmes of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RMTC), and the Western Cape component is housed in the Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW). The winners of provincial competitions go on to represent their provinces at an annual national PET event. The programme director for the event was Jean Ongansie of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).

The main objectives of PET are to:

• encourage learners to be aware of road safety issues and problems in their communities;
• empower learners, facilitators and community road safety councils with practical research skills;
• teach learners to take responsibility for road safety issues that affect their communities;
• develop learners’ presentation skills;
• promote teamwork and participative learning through participative techniques; and
• inculcate accountability, versatility and discipline in learners.

Teams from Simon’s Town School and Siphamandla High School (urban category), and Lingelethu High School (rural category) did formal presentations with models of the current situation in their communities and their proposed solutions to adjudicators Nina September (DTPW), Alethea Brown (WCED) and Andrew Barnardo (DTPW). Each team also did a creative presentation of what it was proposing in the form of a poem or a drama. Mark Jansen, DTPW Director: Road Safety Management announced that had chosen Simon’s Town and Lingelethu as the winners in their categories.

GLTC acknowledges all the participants for their hard work and their teachers for supporting the teams, and wishes the Western Cape winners well for the national PET finals later this year.