27 May 2025                                                  

 

Kind Attention:

Professor Jonathan Jansen

Distinguished Professor of Education

Stellenbosch University

Email: jonathanjansen@sun.ac.za

 

 

Dear Professor Jansen,

 

I write to ask if you could kindly consider giving a review of the programme that The

Humane Education Trust will be presenting soon to 41 Grade 8 learners at Gordon High

School, Somerset West, in cooperation with the Helderberg Animal Welfare Society.

 

Our humane education programme will be presented to the learners at weekly intervals in

the third term, and will be assessed on completion, by WCED representatives in education

and social development.

 

The outcome will then be presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which

is fully aware of this endeavour in support of it’s new addition to the Charter on the Rights of

the Child, namely: “Children must be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence whether in their home or in society, and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or violence inflicted on animals.” — GC 26: Article 35.

 

The inclusion of animal welfare in GC26:35 is as a result of conclusive scientific evidence

that exposure to violence against an animal has a potentially life-long negative impact on a

child’s mental health.

 

The Humane Education Trust has worked in cooperation with the Department of Education

for more than three decades to rekindle the spirit of care and respect for all life, and a

resume of our work can be viewed here.