Human Rights Campaign

PSSP initiated the PSSP Human Rights Campaign in 2010 in all its schools in order to introduce conversations at school level about human rights, the Bill of Rights and our own Constitution. The campaign includes a number of components including field trips for the learners, school workshops with guest speakers and a poster campaign where learners produce posters.

The highlight of the campaign is the PSSP Human Rights Public Speaking Competition, where learners participate public speaking competitions on the topic of human rights. Each school conducts its own internal public speaking competition, the junior and senior winners of which participate in the PSSP Human Rights Public Speaking Finals which are held at the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
As part of the 2011 Human Rights Campaign, learners participated in The International Day of Commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust hosted by the United Nations Information Centre and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre at Museum Africa. They also attended school workshops conducted by the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre on the Holocaust, human rights and contemporary genocides.

PSSP has also collaborated with ORT South Africa to introduce the Bill of Responsibilities to the schools and integrate it into the curriculum. This is a practical document that outlines the responsibilities corresponding with the rights found in the Bill of Rights. The campaign to promote the bill was officially launched by Basic Education Deputy Minister Enver Surty and aims to encourage learners, teachers, parents, and communities to work together to foster a culture of responsible citizenship in schools.

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