“Gone are the days where pupils are stranded when they drop out of secondary education. As the department we want to ensure that in every grade, learners are equipped with skills and development certificates in artisan, engineering and aviation,” said Lesufi
Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, at Sasol Cindy Mogotsi said that the lab was the 10th of its kind to be rolled out nationally. “The Mobile Science Lab Project is the Sasol Foundation’s contribution to supporting government in addressing this challenge.
It was first introduced in 2014 as a partnership between the Sasol Foundation ,the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the South African Agency for Science and Technology.
She said that more still needs to be done to enable access to facilities such as equipped science laboratories.
“We need to develop an ecosystem of science and mathematics education that sustains the interest and passion for these vitally important fields, which will further contribute to South Africa’s ability to compete globally in manufacturing, medicine, energy, defence and tech innovation,” said Mogotsi.
The Gauteng Department of Education will monitor the progress made by the mobile lab through weekly assessments of visited schools.