Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
School team wins top goIT app concept
TAKING the leap of faith to close the unemployment gap in the country, six Christel House SA High School pupils participated in a student engagement digital innovation programme, and won the best app concept award for their submission.
The goIT programme aims to empower pupils to design human-centred solutions to problems facing their communities, harnesses technologies for innovation and uses the agile methodology for rapid prototyping and implementation.
The team competed against seven other schools in the goIT app challenge.
The Christel House pupils created an app which targeted sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth.
The app aimed to tackle the unemployment crisis in the country by allowing the user to search for vacancies in a specific industry and upskill themselves through courses.
Grade 9 pupil A. Suhail said the goIT Challenge was introduced to them on a Saturday, where as a group, they brainstormed ideas and narrowed the list to 20 problems in the country.
“Focusing on unemployment, as it is a very pressing issue in our country, we discussed how we could counteract unemployment and why it is such a big problem. We realised that many people lacked access to employment information,” said Suhail.
Cedric Esterhuizen, the head of department for Languages, CAT, Robotics and Droning at the school, said that with pupils coming from communities where unemployment is an enormous issue, the pupils really put their best foot forward with their work ethic.
“Doing their own research, our students found that half of South Africa’s youth were not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), and understand the extent of the problem.
“They also know how beneficial technology can be in solving problems and making a difference in our communities,” said Esterhuizen.
“The app allows users to upskill themselves, search for vacancies and much more, but what makes it truly special is that it was created by youth directly from our communities, who used their own research and experiences to create this app.
“Our students continue to inspire me and I’m sure they will go on to do amazing things one day, based on the dedication and work ethic shown through this competition,” he said.