Students’ sky-high ambitions aided by space technology

By necessity‚ the desert breeds symbiotic relationships.

 It is the only way to survive in such harsh conditions. Deep in the central Karoo‚ a somewhat unlikely pairing has begun to thrive - one between a multinational not-for-profit organisation and a high school with some 300 learners.

The Square Kilometre Array‚ an international effort co-located in Africa and Australia to build the world’s largest radio telescope‚ and Carnarvon High School have become partners in their quest to further maths and science education among youngsters.

Because the SKA could disrupt parts of the community near Carnarvon‚ they looked for ways to give back and decided to focus their efforts on CHS.

A decade ago‚ the school did not have permanent science and maths teachers. Now‚ with the help of SKA‚ it has two. In the past two years‚ nine students have qualified for varsity and SKA has covered expenses for all of them. Hendrik Robyn‚ the principal‚ said he hopes at least four more will qualify from the current Grade 12 learners.

In 2009‚ SKA helped introduce a cyber lab‚ complete with 40 computers and an interactive white board. The computers in the school are connected to the SKA fibre and Kim de Boer‚ who heads the Human Capital Development programme at SKA‚ said the school has “probably the fastest access in the country at the moment”. In 2015‚ the school received two laboratories‚ along with five mobile ones‚ for the hard sciences‚ with the help of SKA.

This year‚ SKA expanded the programme to the primary school‚ which De Boer calls “probably the most important level”‚ to get more teachers in the school in partnership with TEACH. So far‚ they have recruited one teacher for maths and another focusing on English.

The first key was to get the necessary human resources‚ Robyn said. SKA partnered with TEACH South Africa‚ an NGO that recruits‚ trains and places young teachers. Soon‚ a steady stream of recent graduates were making their way to the Karoo.

The exposure the SKA partnerships have offered might be the most important aspect of the whole thing‚ according to Robyn.

“In the past we didn’t get learners who went into the science field‚” he said. While in the past‚ they might have studied fields like education or business‚ now the students can study computer science‚ physics and more. One learner has even gone on to study medicine.

“The exposure is important for the learners to see what is it you can actually do‚ what can you actually study.”

In addition to the maths and science programmes‚ SKA has introduced two other important initiatives: training and IT equipment for teachers and funding for over 70 artisans at technical colleges. SKA even hires some of the artisans it helps put through school.

“We do understand that not everyone is going to be scientists and engineers‚” said De Boer. “We do focus on those areas too.”

One former student‚ Virgillian Kasper‚ attended Carnarvon High School just as the SKA programmes were ramping up. Still‚ he said he could tell the impact of SKA‚ - “a lot of new equipment‚ new programmes” - on the school and the students.

Kasper‚ now 26‚ was part of the artisan training programme funded by SKA. His training was from 2014 until earlier this year. His new employer? The Square Kilometre Array.

TMG Digital/TimesLIVE