The Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA) is an initiative aimed at increasing the pipeline of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Innovation (STEMI).
YESA interventions operate from Grades 0-12 and are designed to supplement the national curriculum in a stimulating and challenging environment to promote creativity and innovation. All interventions are aimed at addressing the gaps in the developmental stages of providing support to learners through a broad range of activities, and to encourage learners to continue studies in the field of Science after they have matriculated.
MY YESA passport to learning
YESA has created a number of interventions for learners, such as the innovative My YESA passport which is a digital platform that operates like a virtual passport. It is currently not possible for the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to track learners, thus this intervention fills a much-needed gap.
Learners are encouraged to register and populate the site with initial information including where would they envisage themselves being in five years time. Their participation in Science STEMI activities are then ‘tracked’ throughout their school career. This also includes informal activities such as participation in events such as SciFest. The passport’s aim is to supply a 360 degree evidence of learning both formal and informal so that learners, from all walks of life and different scholastic levels, can generate their own lifetime record that reflects their involvement and interest.
The My YESA platform can be delivered via both the internet and mobile phone, which means that it is possible to deliver it to rural communities. The objective is to have passports for 500,000 learners over a period of five years.
To date no formal marketing has been undertaken, with word-of-mouth occuring primarily through the MXit channel, which has been very successful.
For more information go to the YESA online contact form here.
Visit the YESA website.
This is the final edition of the SAFIPA newsletter. The month of November 2011, marks the conclusion of this dynamic initiative.
