Samsung South Africa has collaborated with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), to unveil the local edition of the schools Solve for Tomorrow digital skills development competition.
The competition is aimed at giving grade 10 and 11 learners from underserved communities an opportunity to gain invaluable tech skills, while solving some of the challenges within their communities through science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
The hackathon-style competition has been designed to increase interest and proficiency in STEM education. The competition has, since 2010, been challenging public school pupils to dream, develop and build real-world solutions to enact positive change across the globe.
According to Samsung, the programme reached over 1.5 million contestants in more than 30 countries around the world by 2020.
The local contest kicks off with 51 pre-selected schools nationally – encouraging innovative thinking, creative problem-solving and teamwork to nurture social innovation ideas that can address various communities’ most pressing problems.
Hlubi Shivanda, director of business operations, innovation and corporate affairs at Samsung SA, says: “As Samsung, we have long recognised the philosophy of investing in the country’s technological advancement, as this is intrinsically linked to economic growth.
“This is why Samsung is spearheading large-scale ICT-driven initiatives aimed at enabling previously underserved societies and introducing disruptive innovation that contributes to superior networks that reach remote areas.”
Samsung used the launch event as a platform to announce the 2023 top 10 schools – out of 51 participants nationally – which will go through to phase two of the competition. In this phase, they will tackle an emerging challenge and produce tangible innovations, to help improve society with the help of assigned Samsung employee-mentors.
Supervising teachers at each of the selected schools will also oversee the teams participating in the competition.
Samsung says it is enabling these learners by giving them funding for prototypes, taking them to a design thinking workshop and sponsoring every school with Samsung tablets and data to help pupils conduct research.
The final stage of the competition will be an opportunity for each school to present the prototype of their solution to a panel of judges. There is the potential to win STEM equipment for their schools worth R100 000 (first place), R50 000 or R30 000 (second and third places, respectively).
In addition to the main prizes, each of the learners in the top three teams will be rewarded with a Samsung device.
Tlali Tlali, head of corporate affairs at SITA, says the state-owned entity found some synergies between its work and Samsung’s efforts in the area of corporate social responsibility.
“When we speak of public-private partnerships, this is about collaboration in working towards achieving meaningful progress. Our country has an unfortunate past of inequality and we need to do something about it.
“As like-minded organisations in technology, this partnership seeks to do just that, as we redress the imbalances of the past, empower the youth and shape SA to be counted among the top nations. We’re happy and proud to be associated and working with Samsung in this initiative,” notes Tlali.
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