Gagasi FM adopts a school

As with the traditional back-to-school and back-to-study elements of the campaign, for Adopt a School, listeners got an opportunity to send through their motivations for schools within their communities that they feel Gagasi FM should adopt.

Zinqobele Secondary School, located within the KwaMzimela Tribal Authority in Mtunzini, North of KZN, has become the first school to be adopted by Gagasi FM. The station recently visited the school together with CTM who partnered with Gagasi FM on the “Adopt a School” element of the campaign. The purpose of the visit was to announce the adoption of the school which will see the school receiving the financial support of R30,000 from Gagasi FM and R50,000 from CTM. The money will go towards the fixing of the school’s damaged facilities such as broken windows, doors, and cupboards to ensure that learners have a decent learning environment.

“This year we decided to add something different to Geleza neGagasi, with the Adopt a School programme we are aiming to extend the impact of the campaign beyond individual learners that get to be beneficiaries of the back-to-school and back-to-study programmes. When you fix a school, you are impacting on the entire learners of that school and in turn you are impacting on the community as the environment becomes more conducive to learning and it becomes easy to contain learners within the school. We are very excited about this additional programme, we are also happy for the strategic partnership with CTM which made the school’s adoption to be more impactful. Our objective is to grow it each year and adopt as much schools as possible,” says Gagasi FM Head of Brand, Phinda Magwaza.

South Africa’s largest tiles and bathroom group, CTM, expressed their happiness in becoming part of Adopt a School. “As CTM this is a very important partnership for us and it allows us to reach out to underprivileged community. We believe that we have a corporate responsibility to plough back to communities and make South Africa better, and there is no other fundamental starting point than ensuring that young people have a decent learning environment. We hope that our contribution to the school together with Gagasi FM will make a difference,” says CTM Citizenship Manager, Landiwe Zondi.

The traditional back-to-school and back-to-study programmes remain the integral part of the umbrella Geleza neGagasi campaign. This year, 10 learners became beneficiaries for back-to-school and they received assistance with their school fees, school uniforms and stationery. For back-to-study, five students received financial assistance towards their tertiary registration fees.

Geleza neGagasi is the station’s flagship corporate social investment (CSI) campaign that takes place at the beginning of each year. Over the past 12 years the campaign has assisted hundreds of KZN school learners and tertiary students, mostly those coming from underprivileged communities. Gagasi FM considers education for young people the key factor in nation-building and through this campaign, the station is making its contribution in the future of the next generation.