Local schools compete in annual science competition in Mbombela
Thirty learners from six different schools participated in this nail biting competition.
As a way to celebrate National Water Week, the finals for the Science School Competition was held at the Lowveld National Botanical Garden on Friday March 15.
National Water Week is a culmination of the call by UN-Water upon all governments to take part in celebrating World Water Day, which takes place on March 22. World Water Day is about focusing attention on the importance of water. In response to the call, the South African government mandates celebration of the National Water Week in line with the objectives of UN-Water.
This year’s theme on groundwater drew attention to the hidden water resource that has always been critically important but not fully recognised in sustainable development policy making.
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As part of the Water Month celebrations, the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (Iucma), in partnership with sector stakeholders, initiated a school science competition concept as part of the institution’s education programmes. Thirty learners from six schools and their teachers in the subcatchment participated in the competition.
These schools were Ndlela Secondary, Mamabatho Mokoena Secondary, Mahashe Secondary, Takheni Secondary, Zenzele Secondary and Sitintile Secondary.
Ndlela took first place and won the competition, in second place was Zenzele and Takheni was third.
The campaign was aimed at educating the public about their responsibility in water conservation initiatives, raising awareness around the need to protect and conserve the country’s water resources.
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During the event, Linda Carol Zulu, chairperson of the Iucma board, said, “This school competition is one of the events the agency has and it is supported by the national Department of Water and Sanitation. Every year we have a theme. For this year it is ‘Water for Peace’. We then give this theme to learners to use while they work for solutions in the water sector. Water is a very scarce resource due the impact of global warming and climate change. We are looking at more innovations from the learners so that they can present solutions for us to look at as the sector. As much as it is a school competition, some of these solutions can be put into implementation in the future,” Zulu explained.
