The Unisa campus which is based in Daveyton launched a robotics initiative.
It initiated the programme to educate the youth about the overall processes of designing, programming, assembling and the deployment of robots.
The training aims to equip the youth with creative and innovative ways of using technology which will enable them to conduct compelling researches that will solve modern problems.
The project manager from IJ Energy and Technologies, Tshegofatso Poolo explained what they wanted to achieve with the programme, he said they wanted to reach out to numerous primary school teachers in Ekurhuleni especially those who teach technology as a subject.
“We have been partnering with the South African Robotics Clubs (SAROC) and the Gauteng Gambling Board (GGB) to launch the robotics as a mind sports activity as you would know that robotics is now going to be an official curriculum within the schooling environment in South Africa.
“To actually fast track the process of helping the Gauteng Department of Education to reach more schools, we are focusing more on the spotifyfication of robotics for the pure reason of keeping learners more comfortable, and to clear the stigma that maths and science are complex as we all know one needs to think critically when working with the subjects,” said Poolo.
He further said through robotics as a mind sports activity there are the skills that they can actually deploy because their competition frameworks require students to go back to their communities and identify problems and develop a robotic orientated solution to be able to address that problem.
Through the fruitful assistance of the Gauteng Gambling Board, SAROC has managed to reach over 416 schools in the Gauteng province alone and they are proud that it’s not only schools within the township that they are helping, but they are also focusing immensely on schools that have learners with disabilities.
“The Gauteng Gambling Board has made this program successful, this week alone we have trained about 106 teachers from Ekurhuleni and next week we are heading to Tembisa and Soweto just to strengthen the capacity of those regions. We are also hoping to get sponsors that can come on board to help us grow this project to become a national robotics league,” he added.
Poolo said teachers received training since the first day.“It came to our surprise to see the excitement in the teachers, they are actually now starting to appreciate technology for what it is and the element of robotics.
“The reason why we are focusing on teachers is that we have realized that if you don’t capacitate the educator you are going to have a problem wherein you find learners who are far ahead of the teacher and that might demoralize the teacher,” he expressed.
Grade 7 Technology teacher and grade 5 NS and Tech teacher, Thoko Mkhwanazi from Thopodi primary school said the program has been stress-free for her and she appreciates the opportunity that has been given to her.
“The training is nice and we can already see the positive impact it is going to do on our learners. It will help them think decisively and develop solutions to problems. I fully promote robotics,” said Mkhwanazi.
“With the joy that we have, we believe that our learners will be ecstatic to be part of this journey and learn more about robotics. It will stimulate their creativity and enthusiasm to major in coding and robotics,” said Jabulani Thethwayo from Gugulesizwe primary school and Sphathimandla Mlaba from Inkatha Ka Zulu primary school.
The grade 7 teachers added that robotics can change the way learners learn and ultimately it can produce knowledgeable and disciplined learners.
With the help of the Gauteng Gambling Board, the organisations have managed to donate 106 robotics to the learners.
Simphiwe Nkosi