Samsung has announced the winners of its 2024 Solve for Tomorrow school competition, with deputy minister of basic education, Dr Makgabo Mhaule, in attendance.
The winners were announced after a full day of rigorous presentations, during which the top 10 finalist schools presented their prototypes to a panel of judges in a bid to win the competition.
The competition is in partnership with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and aims to empower grade 10 and 11 learners from underserved communities to apply STEM skills to real-world problems. It promotes innovative thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork, and enables learners to gain skills that could benefit them in their future careers.
According to Samsung, the participating schools identify problems within their communities and use STEM to solve them by conducting research and developing prototypes. Samsung further enabled the schools with resources and mentors to guide them through the process.
Mandisa Shiceka High School from Kagiso, Krugersdorp, emerged victorious, outshining nine other finalists. Mbilwi Secondary from Limpopo claimed second place, while Adam's College from KwaZulu-Natal rounded off the top three.
The overall winner received R100 000, the runner-up took home R50 000, and the third-place finisher was awarded R30 000.
“All the cash prizes will go towards purchasing STEM equipment for each school, according to their various unique needs. Samsung placed the cherry on top by rewarding each learner from the top three teams with a new Samsung Galaxy device,” reads the statement.
Winning ideas
The Mandisa Shiceka team developed an automated hydroponic structure that grows food without using soil.
They identified food security as the main challenge because their township, Kagiso, is predominantly a mining environment, which affects the quality of the soil, air and water – resources essential for growing healthy food. Their system would use greenhouses, as well as rain water and boreholes as sources of water.
Makhosazana Mazibuko, a grade 10 team member, said the team believed from the start that they would win because they believed in their idea as a great solution. "We’re grateful to Samsung for the chance to improve our community and gain valuable skills,” said Mazibuko.
Their educator, Nonki Motlogelwa, who also helped guide them in their project said: "We are proud especially because we won at our first attempt. I am so excited for the learners, they have shown so much courage, creativity and teamwork that I am sure they are heading in the right direction. Overall, the experience was amazing and thought provoking.”
Walking the talk
Speaking at the ceremony, deputy minister Mhaule said, “Well done to Samsung for recognising a gap and walking the talk by working to fill it with this initiative. Their efforts and commitment to contributing towards educating our youth are highly commendable. It’s easier to stand by and criticise but with such a programme, Samsung is showing that doing will always be better than talking. Every learner and school that participated in the Solve for Tomorrow competition is a winner, simply for getting up and doing something, to solve problems in their community and also skill themselves and prepare for the future. This initiative is not just a competition; it is a beacon of what social responsibility should be.”
Solve for Tomorrow is one of Samsung’s corporate social investment initiatives and an ambitious effort to increase interest and proficiency in STEM, and help the country contribute to the fourth industrial revolution.
Lenhle Khoza, manager for BBBEE and transformation at Samsung, said that since its launch in 2023, Solve for Tomorrow has grown into an annual creative thinking playground for underprivileged high school learners.
"The youth is key to Africa’s development potential and it is our ambition as a business to spread the competition to more countries on the continent for transformative ways to solve societal issues through STEM initiatives like these. Now more than ever, we need to guide young learners on the value of STEM skills to solve the greatest issues impacting our communities,” said Khoza.
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