Thanks to a donation from Capitec Bank, the MiDO Foundation has opened its ninth digital hub, this time at New Orleans Secondary School in Paarl.
Since launching in 2001, Capitec has transformed banking and has become South Africa’s biggest digital bank through an unwavering focus on its fundamentals of simplicity, affordability, accessibility and personalised experience, combined with agility and digitalisation.
“A digital hub lends itself to support various educational initiatives, including after-school programmes.,” said Jean Rossouw, Head: Financial Education in Marketing and Communications at Capitec Bank during the launch of the hub.
“This space will allow learners to explore and collaborate through technology and serve as an enabler that will support innovation and learning. The pace at which digital innovation and disruption is happening will continue to increase, and as teachers and parents we need to embrace technology for its potential to empower learners.”
Mr Andrew Groeneveld, New Orleans’ principal, said he was excited about the hub, as it will provide learners and teachers with the opportunity to learn and expand their digital literacy and skills with the help of Digital Hub coordinator and local resident, Tarryn Theunissen.
Young, unskilled and unemployed individuals from low-income communities are trained as Digital Hub Coordinators through the foundation’s paid 12-month Digital Citizenship Programme and appointed in digital hubs to help develop the digital skills of learners and guide them as they explore the technology available.
Other sponsors that invested in the hub include PAV and Cecil Nurse. Ethan Achilles from Stellenbosch designed the hub.
Groeneveld thanked the sponsors for investing in the Paarl community. “You are [also] investing in the future of our country as this hub can help our learners, and therefore our communities, to prepare for the professions of the future.”
According to Dale Simons, Managing Director of MiDO Technologies, the hub forms part of the foundation’s vision and mission to equip the youth with digital skills, digital literacy, and digital citizenship skills “to create pathways out of poverty”.
“We want to address systemic poverty, and economic dispossession and exclusion by ensuring our youth have the skills to uplift themselves. We can’t create jobs for them without providing them with the skills they’ll need to do those jobs.”
Rodwin de Wet, head boy of New Orleans, and head girl Tori Pietersen, along with deputy head girl Tendani Chebani and deputy head boy Andruwaldo Lakey, shared their hopes for how the space could be used and the value it would add to the lives of learners without computers or Wi-Fi access at home.
Said Chebai: “It will provide learners with the opportunity to learn digital skills, explore technology and expand their knowledge, which will open up a new world for them as they can now search for and apply to university, and increase their chances of finding a job. It will expand learners’ education beyond their normal subjects and expose them to careers in computer science and technology.”
“The partnership with Capitec has once again proven the value of working together towards a common goal,” Simon added. “Current learners and future generations will reap the rewards of this investment.”
