Bokamoso Programme to Foster Aspiring Engineers
Publication: Infrastructure News
Issue: October 25, 2016
Commuting from the township of Orange Farm to Lenasia can take more than four hours on foot, or a half hour taxi drive, given that you hop on and off a few different taxis. Many of the township’s teenagers attend the M H Joosub High School in Lenasia and this is their daily commute.
Prior to 1994, the M H Joosub high school was a trade school that offered courses including mechanics and engineering science. However, 22 years ago the school adopted a full academic programme and has since tried to expand the number of skills it could offer its pupils.
Several educators at the school said that while a lot of their pupils have the ability to become highly skilled professionals, they do not have the equipment to help supplement their theoretical learning experience.
Knight Piésold Consulting, the oldest South African engineering consulting firm in the country, saw an opportunity to help the school grow its facilities and develop its pupils and recently partnered with them, agreeing to invest in its Mathematics and Science departments.
The programme, called Bokamoso, meaning ‘future’, will see the development of a computer lab that will host 24 new computers. The company is also working towards developing a holiday school which will see its engineers joining pupils on weekends and holidays to help develop their skills in Maths and Science.
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