The DBE, in partnership with Supersport’s LetsPlay initiative, launched the inaugural Schools Physical Education Challenge in 2016. Around 500 primary schools participated in the initiative last year. The challenge requires primary schools to have Grade 4 learners (boys and girls) to complete an obstacle course in a 45 minute period and the winner being the school that gets the largest number of learners to complete the course within that time period.

Last year, the winning school was Riverview Primary School in Worcester, Western Cape. The school won a state of the art multi-purpose court to the value of R1.3m sponsored by the Sports Trust. Hitachi Construction generously constructed the court free of charge. The court was handed over to the school on 29 January 2016 by Dr Granville Whittle, Deputy Director-General: Social Mobilisation and Support Services. Dr Whittle also officially opened the challenge to all primary schools for the 2016 school year. “Increased levels of physical activity is critical in ensuring that children remain healthy, which enables them to attend school on a regular basis. Healthy children have better concentration levels, and generally do better in school than their inactive peers,” Dr Whittle said in his key note address. He also encouraged all schools to enter the Schools Physical Education Challenge this year.