As children of the schools settle in for the new term, they will be excited to know that the programme, which piloted a year ago in five schools in Alexandra, will now be extended to all 12 primary schools in the township. More than 500 children aged seven to 12 years have already participated in the project which is aimed at reversing the physical inactivity epidemic.
The programme was founded by Nike with the proceeds from the sport brand's WE RUN Jozi race hosted in October 2012. It was initiated by Nike, the Gauteng Department of Education: School Sport and Extra Curricular Programmes Directorate, the University of Johannesburg and Grassroots Soccer, who have closely monitored its progress, and acknowledge that it is playing a formative role in developing their adult intellect, character, emotional resilience and social skills.
"The removal of physical education from the South African curriculum 15 years ago has resulted in our children growing increasingly inactive. Today's announcement is a unified commitment to help transform our inactive youth into a thriving, healthy and moving generation, starting with Alex township. Our curriculum also aligns with the foundation phase of physical education programming and the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), of the Department of Education," said Deputy Director General Vuyani Mpofu, Gauteng Department of Education: Education Support.
"This announcement is part of Nike's long-term global commitment to enable children to live more physically active lives. The programme is a collective effort from our partners, and importantly the running community who contributed through participating in our races, helping prepare our children for the future," says Nokuthula Zwane, Nike Africa Access to Sport Manager.
Alex Butterflies which is managed by professional coaches, seeks to inspire children to be physically active and develop children holistically through the introduction of running in a fun and safe environment. Integrating physical activity into the school day helps children learn, focus and grow.
James Donald, the managing director of Grassroot Soccer and the coaches programme says, "Working with all the partners on this project has been a remarkable experience. Thanks to Nike, our Alex staff and volunteers have hosted thousands of runners on the streets of Alex, helped design a programme and deliver fun physical activities to children in their own community. GRS hopes Alex Butterflies and all the schools involved go from strength to strength."
The University of Johannesburg who contributes to the curriculum development, training and impact research, agrees that a lack of physical play and poor eating habits have a negative impact on children's performance in the classroom and contributes significantly to health problems. "From the monitoring evaluation impact assessment results it is clear that the Butterflies Physical Activity Programme is a flagship indigenous South African programme within the global Nike 'Designed to Move' agenda," says Professor Wim Hollander, University of Johannesburg.
