Continental sponsors physical education project for schools

Move It, Moving Matters was launched in 2009 by Dr Claire Nicholson, a former head of Physical Education, Sport and Human Movement Science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The programme has been designed to provide essential equipment along with specially developed teacher and learner manuals that provide step-by-step guides for each session. It is complemented by regular training for the educators to equip them with the necessary skills to run the programme at their schools.

Furthermore, it is backed up by regular assessments of the learners, which is co-ordinated through a national online database of each child enrolled in the programme. This allows the project co-ordinators to track the progress and development of each child.

"The Move-It, Moving Matters project offers a wonderful opportunity for the company to make a difference in our schools especially those that are in dire need of guidance and assistance to get their physical education programmes on track, as this is crucial for personal growth and gross motor skills development," says Gishma Johnson, corporate communications manager at CTSA.

According to Dr Nicholson, legislation in South Africa requires that every school-going child must access 90 minutes of physical activity per week within the prescribed school curriculum. "However, very few teachers are qualified as facilitators in this important area of growth and motoric development as Physical Education was removed from the curriculum in 1999.

Motorically compromised

"Since then children have been motorically compromised, and teachers remain under-prepared and under-resourced to enable their learners to develop these critical life skills, and particularly in the underprivileged schools in our country," says Dr Nicholson.

Nomakhwezi Msizi, head of department at Ben Sinuka Public School in New Brighton, says the Move-It programme has assisted the educators and learners significantly since it was introduced in 2010. "It encourages physical activity and discipline in the learners, and helps us identify children that require more attention in terms of physical and skills development," Msizi says.

"With so many other distractions, our children simply aren't nearly as active as they should be, so we can ensure that they receive regular and focused physical exercise that makes them healthier, and improves their overall learning ability."

Currently Move-It, Moving Matters has been introduced with great success to 120 schools in South Africa, seven of which are in New Brighton in Port Elizabeth of which five are sponsored by CTSA.

For the Eastern Cape, the project has partnered with the Department of Human Movement Sciences at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), which has established a field team under the direction of senior lecturer Dr Cheryl Walter.