Education authorities in Gauteng have expressed confidence that the schools of specialisation will help the province achieve a hundred percent pass rate and produce that will provide solutions to the country’s problems.
MEC Matome Chiloane launched the 33rd such school, Thuto-Tiro School of Engineering in Sebokeng, Vereeniging on Thursday.
Chiloane says while the ruling ANC and the government believe the country still needs coal generated electricity, they accepted that eventually there will have to be a transition to renewables and expected schools in what he described as an Ivy League to provide solutions.
Thuto-Tiro specialises with renewable energy and Chiloane believes such a school will help find solutions for the current electricity crisis.
“We have a problem of loadshedding now although I think it will no longer be there in the next few years. Another problem I anticipate will come is water and it has already started so we need you to come up with those solutions,” Chiloane said.
The MEC said the province’s schools of specialisation are already dominating their peers globally.
“You understand the pressure? You understand what we talking about when we say SOS. Learners in Soshanguve SOS they produced a train, a locomotive, from start to finish, solar powered, has tvs and other things, it doesn’t need electricity, it just goes.
“I’ve been looking at these engineering TV shows I have not seen a solar powered train but those learners did it, they went on to win international awards. They’ve been all over the world, Germany they won. They went to another competition in Dubai or Qatar. They defeated learners from China, the US and Canada, all the top developed countries you can think of were defeated by our kids from Soshanguve,” said the MEC about a school of specialisation in Soshanguve.
“Others produced a car. You can imagine a solar powered vehicle, nicely moving,” he said.
Chiloane said failure was not an option for schools of specialisation as the provincial government is expecting pass rates of up hundred percent.
“We looked at schools that were performing at the time, they must be in our townships, very important. They need to be adaptable to the changes that we are going to bring into the school and Thuto Tiro last year did not do that. I nearly pulled the plug principal because there was no performance. Matric pass rate of 68 percent is very low. For a school of soecialisation is hundred percent, nothing less. We understand you’ll get 95 but anything lower than that it’s a no,” he said.