• The Mbilwi Secondary School from Venda in Limpopo has won the Samsung Solve for the Future competition and with it R100 000 for their institution.
• 10 schools from underprivileged areas across the country competed to present innovative solutions to South Africa’s most crucial problems.
• Team members from the top three schools will go home with personal Samsung devices.

Learners from the small town of Sibasa in Limpopo, with a population of only around 4 000 people, have won a nationwide competition hosted by Samsung to design a piece of innovative technology to solve a crucial problem in South Africa.

Representing Mbilwi Secondary School from the Venda region, the learners crafted an ambitious plan to fix all the potholes along the roads of their town using recyclable and sustainable materials, including discarded bottles.

The learners said that the Samsung competition had become a large part of their lives leading up to this victory, with an awards ceremony held in Johannesburg.

“We have really worked hard as a team as we met every day to put in the work needed to get us not just over the line but victoriously so, therefore winning is awesome,” said Igoline Coelho, a grade 11 member of the winning team.

“We are happy that the competition allowed us to do something good for the environment and hopefully, it will spark even more interest in others to work on making the environment better for all.”

Samsung is set to award the school R100 000 cash, which is aimed at improving facilities and purchasing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) equipment.

10 schools in total from Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Limpopo and Mpumalanga competed in this last leg of the Solve for Tomorrow competition which ran from June earlier this year until October

Runners-up included Mpumalanga’s Maphuthaditshaba Secondary and KwaZulu-Natal’s Umlazi Comprehensive Tech who are going home with R50 000 and R30 000 for their institutions, respectively.

All the members of the three winning teams will be going home with a Samsung smartphone for their personal use.

Samsung says that the competition is in line with its efforts to increase the countrywide proficiency in STEM fields, as well as contribute to South Africa’s fourth industrial revolution.

“The competition encourages innovative thinking, creative problem-solving, and teamwork among the learners as they grow and learn important skills that could benefit them greatly in their future careers,” it said.

“The skills acquired by the educators and the learners will benefit them beyond this competition. We look forward to seeing the inclusion of more schools from the underserviced communities in South Africa,” said Pinky Kekana, Deputy Minister in the Presidency who was present at the awards ceremony.

“We are optimistic that some of the solutions from this competition will eventually be implemented,” she concluded.

[Image – Samsung]