align=leftAccording to Greg Stewart, publisher of The Citizen, the winning pledge, as well as a variety of entries will be published in the newspaper. “We also plan to submit a few to the Department of Education for consideration.”
align=leftThe winner will be announced on 25 March and will walk away with R1,000.
align=leftThe competition follows the announcement by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address on 8 February that government intends to have all school children recite an oath during morning assembly. Education Minister Naledi Pandor told the media last week, children “could be heard reciting it by mid-March”.
align=leftStewart said The Citizen was driving this competition “because the general public is not happy that the government had decided to enforce this pledge without following democratic principles”.
align=left”The people that will be reciting the pledge should be allowed to have an input in the content.”
align=leftPledges can be submitted via email to href=”mailto:pledge@citizen.co.za” mce_href=”mailto:pledge@citizen.co.za”pledge@citizen.co.za. Indicate the following: Name, surname, age, school (if applicable) and contact number.