This year is the 25th anniversary of the South African Constitution. To celebrate this, Macmillan Education, in partnership with the Constitution Hill Trust, would like to take teachers and learners on a journey to discover the known and unknown stories of the making of the South African Constitution, as well as the importance of the Constitution for every South African, especially our youth.
Constitutional issues impact the lives of young people every day and knowledge of the Constitution has a transformative power that allows them to understand how they fit into the world around them and the important role that they have to play in South African society.
The Constitution also guides School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and other school leadership structures, such as Representative Councils of Learners (RCLs) and School Management Teams (SMTs). It is therefore important that schools take time to understand the Constitution and the values that it upholds.
Our journey with teachers and learners will commence the week of 15 March in celebration of Human Rights Day on 21 March and will continue throughout 2021.
Why do we undertake this journey?
- To provide support to our rights-based school curriculum
- To provide support to teachers to promote the constitutional values in schools
- To provide teachers with resources to unpack and discuss important constitutional themes in their classrooms
- To promote informed classroom dialogues about our past, present, and future
- To encourage teachers and learners to take action towards building trust in our constitutional democracy
- To support schools developing young people into active, responsible citizens that embrace a culture of human rights.
What can teachers and learners expect to get on this journey?
- Access to the online platform ‘Our Struggle, Our Freedom, Our Constitution’
This is a must-go-to site for teachers and learners with multiple resources and stories of our constitutional democracy. The animated story of the making of the Constitution in 5 parts is something not to be missed; so too the photo exhibition that tells the story of the process that led to a democratic South Africa. This site also explains the constitution-writing process, the story behind the writing of the Preamble, the 27 rights contained in the Bill of Rights, and much, much more. Learn more
- Human Rights Day, Freedom Day, Youth Day, and Heritage Day commemoration
The importance of the South African Constitution, the story behind it as well as the meaning thereof for each individual, needs to be at the centre of these commemorations.
Emails with links to relevant material on the online platform ‘Our Struggle, Our Freedom, Our Constitution’ will be sent to schools to be used on these special day commemorations. Schools will be provided with resource material such as quizzes to use as part of the celebrations. There will also be opportunities for teachers as well as learners to win exciting prizes.
- Activities such as virtual Round Table conversations with learners to unpack and discuss important constitutional themes and an Essay/Poem/Art competition with the Constitution and Human Rights as the theme are planned for the second half of the year. More information in this regard will follow in due time.
Please take time to appreciate the Constitution and the values that it upholds and share this with your learners. It does not matter what subject you teach: whether it is social science, history, language, art, music, life skills, etc. there will be valuable information and activities that you can use in your classroom and your lessons.
We are looking forward to taking you on this journey with us.