Ntsikana Primary School and Unity Secondary School, both from Daveyton Township in Ekurhuleni, were announced winners of this year OrtSA Coding Champions Challenge.
This was after OrtSA non-profit organisation recently hosted its fourth annual schools coding champions challenge in Houghton, north of Johannesburg.
A total number of six schools from different parts of the province participated in the finals of the competition and presented their brilliant apps that can bring solutions to problems faced by their communities and the country on different aspects.
Iphuteng Primary School and Bramley Primary School were among those who made it to the finals and presented their brilliant app ideas to the panel of judges of the competition.
Mandy Mafumani of Iphutheng Primary School in Alexandra showed the judges how their flood alert app can minimise loss of lives in the Jukskei River during the rainy season and help the Joannesburg Emergency Management Services alert community members residing on the banks of the river when the river was overflowing.
She said the app idea was sparked by the need of preventative majors that need to be taken to avoid children and elderly people from being swept away by the infamous Jukskei River. “Every year we hear or read in newspapers of people who died after they were swept away by the Jukskei River.
“We came up with an idea of developing an app that will alert the City’s disaster management and residents of Alexandra when the river is overflowing.”
One of the judges of the competition, Carl Spies, the robotic instructor and curriculum developer at the University of Johannesburg, said the competition and the work done by OrtSA was crucial to prepare learners at a young age for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). “Our children need to start learning how to work with intelligent machines.
” In 10 years to come the world will be widely different from what it is today. The machines today work with computers and only understand computer language more than human beings.
“Introducing coding in schools will help our kids compete with others from different parts of the world and enable them to come with solution in different problems faced by the country.”
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