The Mamelodi Amalgamated Taxi Association (MATA) donated school shoes to needy learners at the Mahube Valley Primary School in Mamelodi East on Friday.
All in all, 36 pairs of school shoes were donated by MATA and the association’s Public Relations Officer Freddie Mashapa said the donations were part of their corporate social responsibility efforts to give back to the community.
“This is not our first and last project to plough back to the community because this year alone we as MATA have already visited five schools in Mamelodi to make donations of this kind and more shall follow,” said Mashapa.
“Teachers at various schools are the ones who identify children who are in desperate need of school shoes and uniforms, and we come in and donate accordingly,” he explained.
“The aim of these donations is to encourage learners to look forward to going to school instead of being anxious about going to school due to lack of uniforms and school shoes,” he said.
“With these donations we are also helping out unemployed parents as they can’t afford to buy school uniforms for their children,” added Mashapa.
In thanking MATA for its generous efforts, Mahube Valley Primary School principal Raesibe Morena said the donations came at the right time as most of the learners at the school come from disadvantaged families.
“Putting on new school shoes will give learners a good reason to wake up early in the morning looking forward to come to school,” she said.
“They will never again feel like outsiders and will come to school looking like other learners and that will boost their confidence,” she explained.
MATA also encouraged learners to take their education seriously as it is a key to success and will open doors for them to become anything that they want to be in life.