Hanekom's visit to Fab Labs inspires Fab(ulous) young minds
9 November 2006

It was back to the classroom for Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Derek Hanekom (middle) as two St Mary's DSG pupils taught him few things about technology.

The Deputy Minister for Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, told guests on Monday that nurturing young children was a way of boosting human confidence in science and technology. Hanekom said this while visiting the Fab Kids Project at the AMTS FabLab: Innovation Hub.

“If you have kids with good grounding in science and technology at least one of them will have the potential to become an excellent scientist,”said the visibly impressed Hanekom observing while six St Mary's DSG pupils presented their match box challenge prototypes. “I just wanted to see how children relate to science and technology.” The deputy minister added that “children here do small practical things that could yield big results.”

“Part of our challenge is to cross this technological divide and [in the process] we have to excite kids,” said Hanekom. The Fab Lab is funded by DST through its agency, the AMTS Implementation Unit, and managed by the CSIR..

The Fab Kids project is part of the Young Engineers of South Africa (YESA) which forms part of the Meraka education initiative. The pilot phase of the Fab Kids project is being implemented in six schools around Tshwane area.

“We want to see Fab Kids in action,”said Ron Beyers, YESA project manager. He says that the Fab Kids programme is aimed at instilling the love of science, engineering and technology among the youth. More importantly, he says, it has provided an opportunity to lift the lid of education. Beyers says that the success of the programme “has exceeded all expectations”.

He added that the output of the programme will be to expose young children of all ages to the wonders of working in a high tech rapid prototyping environment. “If we could get more participants in this kind of environment, the future would look so much brighter.

Beyers explained to the deputy minister that YESA was a very much “hands-on experience” for pupils rather than “thumb-suck information transfer”.
St Mary's pupil Valerie Lehabe, a grade 10 leaner, said that science and technology was an interesting field. “It's fun to learn about new things,” adding that she's hoping to find out what science and technology is all about. “This also gives me an opportunity to decide what I want to be in future.”

Another grade 10 pupil from the school Megan Buys, says: “This is interesting and I am impressed.”
She says that she is hoping to understand science better and that she might consider a career in science and technology after this experience.
Khanyisile Hlongwa, another grade 10 learner, got the technological bug after the session and now she wants to broaden her horizon .
“This has broadened my mind, I was dead-set on doing accounting but now I am considering more career choices after matric,” she says.
Naas Zaayman, manager of the AMTS FabLab: Innovation Hub, echoed Beyers sentiments saying that more children will get exposure in science and technology. “If you expose them to technology at this tender age, they can decide which career path to follow,”he concluded.

News supplied by:Mzimasi Gcukumana