The Student Transformation Committee works to create an inclusive and progressive environment within the school wherein all students can celebrate their differences. Our goal is to educate our peers on inclusivity and diversity and how to create safe spaces on our campus.
One of the many ways in which the Student Transformation Committee has worked to pursue this goal is by focussing on transformation through dialogue. Through the course of April and May, the Transformation Committee has hosted workshops with the Grade 8’s to educate them on racial sensitivity and how they can be more proactive in developing that safe space. During these workshops we highlighted the value of accountability, furthermore, we emphasised that this was an educational process and provided the students with the opportunity to talk openly with Committee members.
Additionally, the Transformation Committee has provided students with the opportunity to meet inspiring role models such as Professor Thuli Madonsela, who addressed the school on the importance of social justice. Professor Madonsela is the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice and Law Professor at the University of Stellenbosch, where she conducts and coordinates social justice research and teaches constitutional and administrative law. She is also the founder of the Thuma Foundation, an independent democracy leadership and literacy social enterprise that aims to empower both individuals and communities to make democracy work for them and to continue to advocate for its implementation. Professor Madonsela has a reputation for integrity and fearlessness in enforcing accountability and justice in the exercise of public power and the use of public resources. Moreover, she has a history of highlighting the importance of social justice and general inclusive enjoyment of the fruits of democracy in the pursuit of peace.
These accolades formed the basis of her address, where she stressed the importance of standing up for social justice and how the current student body is the seeds of hope for South Africa, the African continent, and the world’s future. This is fundamentally important, and the Committee would like to encourage their peers to plant these seeds of hope for a more inclusive path ahead. Additionally, Professor Madonsela stressed the salient point that it is our constitutional duty to fight for justice in society so that we can exist in a shared harmony by embracing our shared humanity.
Consequently, the Committee would like to urge their peers, as global citizens, to be promoters and drivers of human rights within their greater community and country whilst acting in accordance with the ideals of Ubuntu. The Student Transformation Committee will continue to work towards the creation of a space in which all students of Somerset College feel accepted, included, and heard. And I look forward to our future prospects.
Jordan Minnaar
Chairman of the Transformation Committee