Hackathon provides answers to service delivery issues

Grade 11 and 12 learners of Hoër Tegniese Skool Tom Naudé, Flora Park Comprehensive High School, Noorderland High School, Taxila High School and Westenburg Secondary School joined in a day of excitement when they participated in a Hackathon the was hosted by Polokwane Municipality at Westenburg Community Hall last Thursday.
The hackathon is an event where likeminded people get together to find business and socially-relevant solutions through technological and innovative means and is a joint venture supported by Vodacom Limpopo and the Department of Education. The involvement of Vodacom in the programme firmly plants learners into the digital era and forms part of the municipality’s Reaga Polokwane programme.
The objective of the event was to identify service delivery challenges in the municipality and to present solutions or recommendations to a panel. The ideas had to be new and should focus on matters impacting on the school’s environment and not the community at large. The solutions finally had to contain a digital or technological element.
Head boy of Taxila High School, Poroma Hlaka summarised the experiences of his group of five learners. “We are proud and honoured to be part of this initiative. We were not only exposed to the attitude that everything is positive but we were also given the opportunity to be creative and innovative in making a contribution to find solutions that can change the lives of residents of the city,” he said.

Story and photos: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com