Cape Town – Taking the leap of faith to close the unemployment gap in the country, six Christel House SA High School pupils participated in a student engagement digital innovation programme, and won the best app concept award for their app concept.
The goIT programme, which aims to empower pupils to design human-centred solutions to problems facing their communities, harness technologies for innovation and to use the agile methodology for rapid prototyping and implementation, saw the students compete against seven other schools for the goIT app challenge.
The pupils created an app, which targets sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth.
The app aimed to tackle the unemployment crisis in the country by allowing the user to search for vacancies in a specific industry and upskill themselves through courses.
Tracing back to how it all started, Grade 9 pupil A.
Suhail said that the goIT Challenge was introduced to them on a Saturday, where as a group, they brainstormed ideas and narrowed down the list to 20 problems in the country.
“We then decided to focus on unemployment as a very pressing issue in our country.
“In our discussions, we discussed how we can counteract unemployment and why unemployment is such a big problem.
“We realised that many people lack access to employment information,” said Suhail.
Kuhle J, who is also in Grade 9, added that with the main goal of addressing the unemployment issue, the pupils designed the app in such a way that it is easily accessible, as it communicates with employers easily, receives skills training and finds job openings relevant to the users search with the app.
Cedric Esterhuizen, who is the head of department for Languages, CAT, Robotics and Droning at the school, said that with pupils coming from communities where unemployment is an enormous issue, the pupils really put their best foot forward with their work ethic.
“Our students were presented with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which they were asked to solve by creating an app.
“They created an app, which targets sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth.
“Through doing their own research, they found that half of South Africa’s youth are not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET).
“Our students come from communities where unemployment is an enormous issue, so they understand the extent of the problem.
“They also know how beneficial technology can be in solving problems and making a difference in our communities.
“The app allows users to upskill themselves, search for vacancies, and much more but what makes it truly special is that it was created by youth directly from our communities, who used their own research and experiences to create this app.
“Our students really put their best foot forward and their work ethic was admirable as they developed the concept.
“They continue to inspire me and I’m sure they will go on to do amazing things one day, based on the dedication and work ethic shown through this competition,” said Esterhuizen.