The Coega sponsored Maths and Science Programme is proving to be a  success after producing this year’s regional winners of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) water competition– a group who went on to clinch third position in the overall national competition on Friday.

The team from Mfesane High School in Motherwell were crowned overall winners of the Port Elizabeth Algoa Regional competition on July 19 – the only school from a previously disadvantaged community to take part in the competition where it competed against well-established schools in the region such as Daniel Pienaar, Alexander Road High, Victoria Park High and Muir College.

They then went on to represent the Algoa Region at the SAICE national competition, which consisted of 11 competing regions, where the team narrowly lost to the Gauteng and Northern Cape region respectively. The third place achievement is highly notable on a national level, the CDC said today.

“What is encouraging about this achievement is the tough competition the school had to face and how we managed to overcome it. This is the type of endurance and dedication we hope to achieve with the scholars through the Coega-led Maths and Science Programme,” said Mpumezo Ndabeni, CDC Maths and Science Projects manager.

The schools water distribution network competition started in 2003 when SAICE and Rand Water both celebrated their centenaries and jointly decided to launch a water competition as part of their festivities.

The competition emphasises the importance of water distribution networks for supplying safe and clean drinking water to South Africa, as well as encouraging learners to take maths and science as school subjects.

The CDC programme complements such initiatives and is an educational intervention and vocational guidance programme which seeks to enable and encourage learners to enter into careers in science, engineering, and technology (SET).

“The CDC’s commitment to socio economic development through skills development is more than evident in this initiative – and the results are speaking for themselves. We congratulate the team and look forward to future wins coming from the programme,” said Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC head of marketing and communications. “SET is the way forward for the Eastern Cape which has a bright industrial future ahead with the proper interventions in place to train future scientists, engineers and technicians.”

The Mfesane learners have been part of the programme since July 2012 and have shown dedication and commitment to the programme.

“To a large extent these learners achievement are not surprising to us. A little over a year since CDC endorsed this programme, the scholar’s commitment and work ethic has been inspiring. This hasresulted in the school been identified as part of schools to be used in the Motherwell location as centres for Saturday classes,” said Thandi Rayi, CDC Corporate Social Investment manager.

Through taking part in the programme matric scholars have developed their maths and science skills and substantially improved their chances of being accepted to institutions of higher learning.