The Heritage Education Schools Outreach Programme is aimed at granting learners an opportunity to know more about their heritage and culture as a tool of nation building.

For the past years, this programme has had a positive impact on the lives of the youth equipping them with a sense of purpose and appreciation of our cultural diversity. The Department of Basic Education (DBE), National Heritage Council (NHC) together with its partners the NAC, South African National Parks (SANParks), South Africa Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), Brand South Africa and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), supported the project. The school programme seeks to develop young people who are proud of their African heritage to conserve it for future generations.

This is an annual national schools project for grade 8 to 11 learners aimed at encouraging the youth to know their heritage better as well as exploring traditions of other cultures. Schools in the country challenge each other to represent their province at a week-long camp at a national heritage site where learners are taken through an educational exchange experience of a lifetime. The week-long heritage camp from 01 – 05 October 2018, took place at the ecological and historical Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the Free State, where participants including educators had the pleasure of experiencing the natural cultural heritage and beauty of the park through the Brandwag Rock hike as well as a visit to the Basotho Cultural Village. Learners were given a glimpse of the traditions and culture of the Basotho people and were tasked with assignments based on their excursions to present to the judges.

The top four outstanding schools out of the nine are; George Mbulaleni High School from Limpopo in first place, followed by a KwaZulu-Natal’s Nsikayethu High School, Selelekela Secondary School from Free State took third place and the fourth place went to Western Cape’s John Ramsay High School.