Winterveldt High School pupils learning tech after Speaker donates 31 computers

Winterveldt High School pupil Kelebogile Sekoba says the donation of computers by the Tshwane council speaker will help her reach her dreams after completing matric.

“I have big plans for after school. I want to study health science in chiropractics,” she said.

She said she was nervous about the upcoming matric exams and was hoping for the best. If she did well in maths, Sekoba would also consider applying to study electrical engineering, she said.

“The computers certainly help us work towards this,” she said.

“Most of us don’t even have cell phones to do research.” Sekoba thanked the speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana, and other stakeholders for their good deeds and donations to Winterveldt High School.

Grateful

“Thank you for the sanitation, clothes – and not forgetting the computers for pupils to use. We promise to take good care of them.”

Sekoba asked the speaker to continue his acts of kindness and help matriculants with opportunities for leadership seminars and internships after they completed school. “Please don’t forget the community of Winterveldt,” she said.

Local ward councillor Chris Masia said the donations would go a long way towards empowering the pupils of the school.

“They have not been exposed to this or use this kind of services,” he said. The school was in an impoverished area, with no opportunities to connect to the internet, said Masia.

“We don’t even have a library here. The closest one is in Mabopane,” he said.

The donors were not concerned about the safety of the computers because the community would safeguard them because “they understand it is for their children.”

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Fulfilled promise

Ndzwanana said he was pleased to fulfil his promise to donate computers to the Winterveldt High School.

He and officials from Tshwane North TVET College, accompanied by Masia, and representatives from the Telkom Foundation, the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Eskom and the school governing body attended the handover of 31 computers and 34 chairs to the school.

“This partnership is in line with my office’s vision to see many pupils in the City of Tshwane becoming tech savvy and empowered in the forever-changing world of technology,” Ndzwanana said.

Technology was one of the important components of life, he added. “Without a shadow of a doubt, technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace; hence, we need to embrace it.”

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Adapting to tech

“We all need to adapt to change and embrace technology in our schools through teaching and learning,” he said.

The handover was ahead of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) on 17 May.

“The purpose of WTISD is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the internet and other information and communication technologies can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide,” he said.

“[Its origins] date back to the signing of the First International Telegraph Convention on 17 May, 1865, which marked the establishment of the International Telecommunication Union.

“This year, the country marked 30 years since South Africa embarked on the journey of freedom and democracy for all who live here,” he said.

“We therefore need to take a moment to acknowledge the great strides made in the past that paved the way for us to be where we are today. On the same breath, we must prepare for the future.”

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