New academy provides cutting-edge teacher training

IT WAS an afternoon of delight at the official opening of the Eric and Sheila Samson ORT South Africa Information Technology Academy at ORT House in Houghton, Joburg, last week.

Guests were enchanted by a “Destructo Bots” robotics display by Grade 3 pupils from Mikateka Primary School Ivory Park, Midrand.

The pupils, who were special guests at the event, later entertained the audience with a beautiful display of their singing abilities as their way of thanking the non-profit organisation for the maths pro- gramme implemented at their school.

“It is an exciting day in the history of ORT SA. With the launch of the new academy, ORT House is a vibrant hub for providing 21st century skills such as robotics and coding and upskilling South Africans with new-age skills to make them employable,” said Ariellah Rosenberg, chief executive of ORT SA.

The new ORT Academy will include science, technology, engineering and mathematics seminars, courses and lectures for career choices.

A Skills and Enterprise Academy will also cater for accredited small business training, including mentoring, with the IT Academy offering end-user computer qualifications, robotics and coding as well as bridging programmes in technology.

Guests at the event included ORT SA president Brian Joffe, newly elected chairperson Ellis Falkof, funders, donors and volunteer mentors.

Joffe said that eight years ago, ORT wanted to try to teach teachers how to teach. He said that what really had to happen was the coming together of all these talents “to provide and ensure we have the skills sets to take us to the next generation”.

A congratulatory video message from World ORT was shown, and entertainment continued with a poetry recital and a cappella music by post-matric pupils from the ORT SA Second Chance programme.

Their singing ushered in the ribbon cutting by Franki Samson and Steven Cohen, followed a concert by Grade 9 pupils from East Bank High School, who were part of the first group of the ORT SA-Bidvest Mathematics Programme in 2008.