The 4th Industrial Revolution requires the 3Cs - Communication, Critical thinking and Collaboration - and as part of Astron Energy’s integrated approach to learning, the fuel company has included literacy and elements of numeracy to ensure the foundations and basics are in place. It calls this STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths)
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) will provide career opportunities and economic impetus over the coming years as we increasingly embrace the 4th Industrial Revolution and progress inexorably towards a 5IR future.
The World Economic Forum has characterised 4IR as “a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres”.
According to Nexford University, a next-generation online university based in Washington DC, software engineers, network administrators, and data scientists will be among the most in-demand careers in South Africa over the next three years.
This is why Astron Energy, a leading supplier of petroleum products in Southern Africa, continues to make significant investments in educational initiatives in a bid to address gaps in key skills and to help build a pipeline of talent for a future which will be driven by technology.
A research article published in The Journal of Higher Education towards the end of last year, Examining motivator factors of STEM undergraduate persistence through two-factor theory, pointed out that 34% more jobs required expertise in STEM over the past decade.
Astron Energy has invested over R21 million in future skills programmes and every year reaches over 250,000 learners and young people across South Africa through focused educational support programmes.
STEM subjects are generally perceived as difficult. Mathematics, for example, is sometimes seen as hard to grasp, especially if one misses out on the foundational building blocks. Science, likewise, builds on previous learnings and it can be tricky to go back and fill in the gaps.
But if we want to be globally competitive as a nation, capable of giving our young people the best platform to excel and participate in the global digital economy, we have to persevere and support our educators and learners.
Astron Energy CEO Thabiet Booley, who holds a post-graduate degree in Chemistry, says: “In South Africa, we need to build from the bottom up. We need to ensure that our children get into school to start off with, help them through the grades, providing support and encouragement, and then direct them into appropriate courses of study.”
What is STEAM
According to Booley, Astron Energy realised that the growth and development of key STEM skills in South Africa faced a deep challenge due to a basic lack of literacy and numeracy among many learners. Literacy and numeracy shortcomings impact the ability of children to comprehend and engage effectively.
In response, the company turned to an approach called STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths – with the aim to improve literacy levels, develop problem-solving skills and give young people the best possible chance of succeeding in a digital future.
The 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found that eight out of 10 Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning across all languages in South Africa. The 2016 study, which is the most recent survey, saw South Africa placed last out of the 50 countries that participated in the study. This was prior to the Covid-19 pandemic which saw severe disruption to schooling and is likely to have had a detrimental effect on key learning outcomes.
“With our focus on a more rounded educational approach, the result is that STEM has become STEAM,” Booley says.
“The aim is to not only improve literacy and numeracy levels, but to develop problem-solving and process-based learning which are crucial in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
“We believe that this approach will provide the holistic education for young people as they seek to broaden their knowledge and skills and will open the doors of opportunity to the digital economy.
Key STEAM-focused projects
CASME
Together with the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education (CASME), Astron Energy established a resource centre in the Umlazi District of KwaZulu-Natal that makes natural sciences, physical sciences and maths resources available to teachers.
We have extended our reach to over 15,000 learners in eThekwini area by funding a Science2Go Mobile Resource Centre. The mobile centre which carries laboratory equipment and materials, supports maths and science teaching and learning at 15 schools in the area.
Coding and Robotics
Astron Energy partners with a number of organisations and institutions to introduce and instil a love of coding and robotics in children, particularly in previously disadvantaged schools and communities.
These include a partnership with non-profit organisation ORT SA, which runs the very successful Let Kids Code competition. ORT SA trains learners and educators as part of the joint project, before asking them to identify and explore challenges in their local communities and to see how these could be solved using technology.
We also partner with the Cape Town Science Centre (CTSC) on a programme called Code on the Road which takes coding to select schools in communities surrounding the Astron Energy refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town. The programme helps to bring the magic and enjoyment of coding to life and instils sound coding practices and foundations as part of an “enrichment” support to the formal coding syllabus.
Astron Energy Schools Programme
Astron Energy also supports the Cape Town Science Centre (CTSC) through funding for teacher training and learner tuition programmes as part of our Astron Energy Schools Programme.
The Programme, which provides Coding classes, Matric Masterclasses and Physical Science tutoring sessions, supports over 20 schools in communities surrounding the Astron Energy refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town.
Primary Science Programme
In 2018, we entered into a partnership with the award-winning Primary Science Programme. This project reaches children at a foundational phase to help instil a love and curiosity for science and math at a young age.
We have worked with over 1,300 teachers from 120 schools to benefit 100,000 learners in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape provinces.
Free wifi project
In 2022, Astron Energy rolled out free and cheap internet access to tens of thousands of residents of Du Noon, a community located near to our company’s refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town, as part of a significant investment.
Almost 4,400 learners and 120 educators from Sophakama and Du Noon primary schools and Inkwenkwezi Secondary School now have free daily internet access.
Around 11,000 households also have access to cheap internet. Residents can buy 24-hour uncapped wifi for only R5 from one of the 60 community vendors who form part of the job creation and empowerment project in the community.
Over R1 million has been invested in the project to date and we intend to add more households each year as the project expands.
Digital Libraries
In partnership with Information and Communications Technology company, Ruratech, Astron Energy has rolled out state-of-the-art and innovatively packaged Digital Libraries to schools across South Africa.
Each Digital Library consists of 40 tablets, a server, and laptop and printer, and Ruratech provides training and support for educators and learners for a full year.
Astron Energy has donated digital libraries, which cost R270,000 each, to schools in the Western Cape, Gauteng, the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga.
This is on ongoing initiative as we understand that we cannot focus only on teaching children critical future skills, but we must also provide them with the essential tools to learn and live out their digital aspirations.
Resource support
As part of our ongoing relationship with the communities in and around our Refinery, we have funded the renovation, restocking and operating expenses of primary and high schools in areas such as Dunoon, Joe Slovo, Bothasig and Milnerton.
These support measures have primarily focused on the upgrade of computer and science labs and libraries.
Our Caring Heart
We understand that we live in a country where the needs are immense and varied. They are simply not solvable by government alone.
We believe that every business – large and small – has a duty to reach out and see where assistance and relief can be provided, particularly during times of crisis and hardship. Together we can overcome the challenges facing people and communities, and help build the South Africa we all long to see.
Care Packs
In 2021, during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Astron Energy donated over 400 care packs to health workers in the COVID-19 wards at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.
The gifting of the care packs formed part of efforts to support and thank COVID-19 healthcare workers, acknowledging the tremendous toll the pandemic was taking on the mental wellbeing of frontline staff.
Astron Energy further donated in excess of R3 million in coronavirus relief efforts across South Africa, including providing PCR testing kits through Gift of the Givers, and working alongside Food Forward SA, Rise Against Hunger and Country Duty to provide hundreds of thousands of meals and food vouchers to communities in need.
FCP Packs
We partner with NGO Friends of Child Protection (FCP) to help put together comfort packs to be utilised by the police’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units and Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs) who support and assist survivors of sexual violence.
The statistics around GBV and child abuse are horrific and heartbreaking but we salute those who give so much of themselves to help those in need and where we can, we look to support.
This annual project forms part of our employee volunteering programme during July, our Month of Caring, during which time we also support a number of other organisations such as Rise Against Hunger and the Amy Foundation.
Let’s work together to break the cycle of GBV and to build a nation in which women and children can feel safe and secure at all times.
Emergency Relief
In the aftermath of the civil unrest in 2021 and the floods which devastated parts of Kwazulu-Natal in 2022, we worked with prominent relief organisations Gift of the Givers and Food Forward SA to provide relief to affected communities through donations of essential supplies.
Conclusion
We live in a country of extremes and tremendous challenges. But we are also a country of promise and immense potential.
At Astron Energy, we believe in working together to create a future that is better, more prosperous, and inclusive for all people and communities.
We are focused on being a responsible corporate citizen, promoting education, health and economic development in an effort to build stronger communities and drive sustainable economic growth.
We are committed to growing South Africa’s potential and creating opportunities as part of our journey of transformation and hope.
Let’s build South Africa together.