On Thursday, 25 October 2018, the Department of Science and Technology Education within the Faculty of Education at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), hosted a special celebration, thanking all sponsors instrumental in granting funds for the social upliftment provision of workbooks and teacher guides (LTSM) to schools and for continuing professional teacher development (CPTD).

Since the inception of the Technology Education Catalyst Project (TechnEd), 1 120 000 workbooks and 50 000 teacher guides have been supplied to more than 900 schools at an affordable price. To date, 3700 teachers have participated in certified CPTD.

“Sponsorships of R6.8 million have been raised for these purposes since the inception of the project in 1997. We have been identifying and recruiting more donors (Catalysts) in order to increase the number of teachers and learners benefitting from the project,” said UJ’s Prof Piet Ankiewicz, Head of both the Department of Science and Technology Education and TechnEd.

The main purpose of TechnEd’s prestigious annual donor function was to promote technology education as part of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education (STEM education) through teaching, research and community engagement and to develop and provide learning support material for school learners and support material for technology teachers which address problems regarding teaching and learning in technology education,

TechnEd provides support to the teaching of mathematics and science in schools targeted to Senior Phase (Grade 8 – 9) technology teachers, mainly from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE).

Certificates and plaques were awarded the following sponsors: The Albert Wessels Trust/Toyota SA; ID Logistics and Beeld in Onderwys.