Exactly seven days after he was appointed as the new MEC for education in Gauteng, Matome Chiloane hit the ground running and attended the first ever schools of specialisation festival at John Orr Engineering School of Specialisation at the weekend.
Championed by the provincial department of education, the festival brought together 21 schools from across the province to promote excellence and innovation in the fields of arts, engineering, entrepreneurship, and mathematics.
Chiloane said the department plans to extend the initiative to township schools. He added that based on the work he has seen, he is confident that the future of the country is in safe hands.
“These are future engineers, professional sportsmen, business owners and problem solvers. I am so proud of these children,” said Chiloane.
“This is the first instalment of many, and next year we will be at one of the schools that are situated in the locations.”
France Mollo, the principal at Khanya Lesedi Sports School of Specialisation in Ratanda, shared the impact of specialisation at his school.
“There has been a huge difference in the behavior of the pupils, they are more disciplined now. We hope that through this discipline this year, we will be able to achieve our target of a 95% pass rate in matric,” said Mollo.
A coding and robotics grade 11 learner at Future Nation School, Khanyisa Xaba, said she is happy to be a part of the festival.
“I believe that my presence here will help me get enough courage to spread the word, because we need more girls in this field,” said Xaba.
“Platforms like these are needed, because everyone gets to see where the world is going and that is towards 4IR [Fourth Industrial Revolution], hence we need representation in the robotics field.”
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