On the 21st of April 2017 the Maths Centre Incorporating Sciences (MCIS) was privileged enough to launch a new project. The Project which is generously funded by Gibela Rail Transport Consortium Ltd is a Mathematics, Science & Technology (MST) intervention programme, aimed at TVET level. Gibela chose to fund three TVET colleges in three of Gauteng’s biggest municipalities, namely South West College, Tshwane North College and the Ekurhuleni East College. The launch was held at the MCIS head office in Braamfontein, Johannesburg and was attended by our donors from Gibela, the TVET lectures and principals from all three TVET colleagues, as well as the MCIS Executive Director, Sharanjeet Shan, project managers, trainers and staff.
Mr. Sipho Bambisa who is the Community Development Manager at Gibela was one of the speakers of the day; he expressed how committed Gibela is to the improvement of MST results at TVET level. He also mentioned that they are aware that TVET colleges that are located in predominately Black-African townships are underfunded and often neglected. His organisation is passionate about the up liftment of youth through education. Mr Bambisa stressed to the lecturers from the various TVET campuses that Gibela expects their full co-operation in this project in order to achieve the ultimate goal – which is the long lasting improvement of the lives of the students.
Left: The Gibela team with the Maths Centre’s Director, Sharanjeet Shan. Right: (from left)Sipho Bambisa, Gibela’s Community Development Manager and the Maths Centre’s MST manager Paul Nhunzvi
Sharanjeet Shan who is not only the MCIS Executive Director but also the overall head of project implementation spoke to the guests about how maths and science has been part of human existence since the dawn of time. Ms Shan reminded attendees of the various ways maths and science has shaped our lives through the centuries from the invention of the television, washing machine to the smartphone. Her talk was followed by a robotic demonstration of the Lego Mind Storm. The Lego Mind Storm’s series of kits contain software and hardware to create customisable programmable robots. Using the Lego Mind Storm, Ms Shan wanted to demonstrate to the audience the wonders of teaching using technology and the concept of how fun and innovative MST is.
The Maths Centre’s director Sharanjeet Shan
Thabo from the Maths Centre MST team doing a presentation on lego
The Maths Centre’s MST Project Manager Paul Nhunzvi will be managing the day to day roll out of the project at all three colleges. Nhunzvi is a qualified engineer in his own right and has a number of highly qualified trainers under him who will be implementing the MCIS-Gibela MST intervention strategy.
The Gibela team, TVET lectures and principles.
