Educational activities of the Johannesburg municipal social welfare department

[摘要] (a) General: The legal responsibility for educationin the Transvaal rests with the State. Primary andsecondary education are the care of the Transvaal ProvincialAdministration through its Education Department , whiletechnical , university and adult education are the careof the Central Government through its Union Departmentof Education.Although the educational facilities thus providedcompare very favourably with those provided overseas,certain serious gaps are left , notably in the pre-schooland in the post-school ages5 and also in certain aspectsof the education of the school-going child, particularlyin the case of the maladjusted child.Although the primary function of the JohannesburgSocial welfare Department is social welfare, it fillssome of these gaps , either wholly or in part , throughsome of its welfare provisions. It is seldom possibleto separate social welfare services from educationalservices, as these two overlap to a large extent . Theonly difference is often only in point of view. WhereasSocial Work wants to combat and remedy social evils,education wants to prevent them. There is thus muchtruth in the statement that what is social is alsoeducational , and what is educational is also social.All welfare services, or for that matter anyservices, which tend to promote the bringing of theimmature to a state of maturity, are also educational.(b) Educational Activities of the J.M.S.W.D.:The services provided by the J.M.S.W.D. whichare of educational significance are Play Centres,Park Supervision, Youth Social Centres, Community Centres,Sheltered Employment and Occupational Therapy, Research,Statistics and Propaganda.(1) Play Centres:Play Centres were established in Johannesburgby the Social Welfare Department to provide for theurgently felt need for suitable and adequately organisedrecreational facilities in order to prevent juveniledelinquency and to keep the children away from themany dangers of the streets.The first Play Centre was opened in August, 1941,in Mayfair. Since then six more play Centres have beenestablished in Johannesburg.The Play Centre movement started in England andAmerica towards the end of the nineteenth century tocompensate children for the loss of their play facilitiesas the result of the industrialisation of the cities withthe consequent lack of wholesome ways of spending leisure time.Play is necessary for children as it not onlyfulfils a natural and fundamental urge, but it is alsohighly educative.The Play Centres, which were established to providethe necessary play and recreation facilities, aim at beingremedial, rehabilitative, preventive, promotive andformative. They are remedial in so far as they aim atcorrecting existing mistakes, maladjustments andbehaviour abnormalities. They are rehabilitative in sofar as they aim at rehabilitating behaviour problemchildren. They are preventive in so far as they aimat preventing delinquency, sickness and disease, andundesirable friends and practices. They are promotivein so far as they aim at promoting better relationshipbetween child, home and school, and the satisfaction ofthe basic needs of children. They are formative in sofar as they aim at promoting the formation of character.The Play Centres hope to achieve the above aimsthrough the provision of physical, intellectual, culturaland social activities.(2) Park Supervision Scheme:Like Play Centres, Park Supervision was establishedto provide organised play and recreational facilities forschool-going children, especially in the more congestedareas of the City, where playing room has almost disappearedas the result of industrialisation.America led the way in providing playgrounds forchildren. There the movement went through three stages,viz., the charity, the partially tax-supported, and thepresent stage, where it fights for tax-supported playgroundsfor all children. Since the war schools are taking anincreasing interest and an active share in providing for playand recreational facilities for children. In AmericaPark Supervision is only one of the stages of acomprehensive recreation scheme.Park Supervision was begun in Johannesburg in thebeginning of 1946. At present Joubert Park , End StreetPark, Fairview Park and Rhodes Park are being supervised.The most important activities of the scheme arechecking neglect and all treatment of children in the parksby nursemaids, dealing with cases of truancy, watchingdifficult children, dealing with suspicious lookingcharacters, and, what is of particular importance fromthe educational point of view, doing constructive workwith children, undertaking case studies and applying thenecessary treatment in order to bring about betteradjustment.(3) Youth Social Centres:Where the previous two services cater for school-goingchildren, Youth Social Centres were established toprovide constructive leisure-time activities for youngpeople between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.There is much that is of educational importance in theseactivities, as true recreation is also an education, andthrough recreation the ends of education may be served.In fact, recreation is a most powerful instrument ofeducation.Like the previous services, the movement alsohad its roots overseas, where they were established toprovide for the adolescent needs of boys and girls. Itwas realised that unless these needs were adequatelyprovided for there was an ever-present danger of some ofthem getting off the reservation. The need for thisservice was most evident during the war when fathers andmothers were on active service and the young people lackedthe necessary parental direction and control.The Youth Social Centre in Johannesburg wasopened in July, 1946, in the old German Club building.Although the primary objective of the Centrewas, as already stated, the provision of constructiveleisure-time activities, it is more and more taking onthe new objective of education towards citizenship.The Youth Social Centre provides for a greatvariety of activities, including group activities, sucha gymnastics, dancing, camping, needlework, dramaticsand concerts, debating and discussion groups, bioscopeshows and music groups. It also provides for a varietyof games, such as billiards and snooker, table tennis,skittles, draughts, chess and cards. Important from theeducational viewpoint are the case studies undertakenand the following treatment.(4) Community Centres:This service is concerned with the needs ofyoung people over fifteen and of adults. They are tobe established to provide constructive leisure-timeactivities, with the aim of promoting, a.o. adulteducation and education for citizenship.This movement also started overseas as adescendent of the Social Settlements, which developedout of a desire to alleviate the conditions of the poor,as the result of the Industrial Revolution, by providingthem with educational, recreational, and social services.The Community Centre aims to bring about theabove through the provision of the following activities:educational, health, social and recreational. Educationalactivities are to be provided by libraries, adult educationclasses, nursery schools, and study groups; healthactivities by clinics, medical services, etc.; socialactivities through dances, etc., and recreationalactivities through exercises, games, etc.(5) Sheltered Employment and Occupational Therapy:This service was established in Johannesburgtowards the end of 1942 to employ and train physicallyand/or mentally handicapped persons under shelteredconditions with the object of rehabilitating them.Although the idea originated with the ancients,it was not until the World War that the movement gainedground. It played a considerable part in the treatmentand rehabilitation of the war disabled.Sheltered Employment and Occupational Therapyaim at the adjustment of the individual through theprovision of facilities for vocational training andsheltered employment. Thereby they aim at the restorationof confidence and self-reliance.This is to be brought about through thefollowing activities: in the men's section, carpentry,tailoring, leather work, and sheet metal work , and in thewoman's section, dressmaking, weaving, and toymaking.This is to be aided by lectures on educational subjectsand excursions to places of interest, such as the ArtGallery.(6) Research, Statistics and Propaganda:This branch of the Social Welfare Departmentundertakes research into the best methods of conductingwelfare work and makes the results thus obtained availableto social workers and others interested. Through itspropaganda activities the public is kept informed ofrecent developments in welfare work and the way is preparedfor pending measures.

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