Mphaphuli Secondary's young innovators motivated

A senior traditional leader, Thovhele Gole Mphaphuli, has urged learners of Mphaphuli Secondary School in Sibasa outside Thohoyandou to take education seriously.

“Education remains the foundation and cornerstone of South Africa’s future. With education, you can develop a better knowledge for the future,” said Thovhele Mphaphuli.

He was speaking at Mphaphuli Secondary School during the launching of a Grassroots Innovation Programme, which aims to ignite young innovators in the field of science and technology as way of paving the way for the fourth industrial revolution.

It was hosted in partnership with the Mphaphuli Development Trust, in collaboration with the Technology Innovations Agency, the Department of Science and Technology and the Embassy of Switzerland.

The chairperson of Mphaphuli Development Trust, Dr Jackson Mphafudi, said the programme wanted to start a culture of innovation and using technology to solve the problems and challenges of the local community and society. According to him, the programme also targets school-going learners. They started with Mphaphuli Secondary and they want to pilot the programme at Thengwe, Tshivhase and Mbilwi Secondary Schools.

Ms Jacqueline Friedenthal of the Embassy of Switzerland to South Africa said that in 2017, the embassy started a collaboration between Swiss universities, the University of Venda and the University of Limpopo that will involve research and innovation.

The portfolio manager for Grassroots Innovation Programme, Ms Simphiwe Mntambo, said the programme was targeting grassroots innovators who required funding to develop and promote their technological innovations up to pre-commercialization.

Date:03 August 2019

By: Silas Nduvheni

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