By Levy Masiteng

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande and KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Sipho Hlomuka joined forces on Tuesday to help learners decide on their futures at a career day.

The event at the Lembede Mathematics, Science and Technology Academy in Pinetown comes at a crucial time as the government turns it focus more than ever at getting people into STEM-related careers.

The public school, which started in 2021, focuses on developing the potential of learners in gateway subjects like maths and science. It has 355 students enrolled for this year.

Hlomuka emphasised the importance of education in shaping the future of young people. 

“We are grateful to the organisers of this this important event which seeks to help our learners to choose the most fulfilling career path.

“We cannot overstate the importance of career guidance and we must all make it our responsibility to ensure that this critical knowledge is imparted to all learners early so that they can make the right academic choices,” he told the event.

The MEC highlighted the vast career opportunities available in fields like IT, cybersecurity, healthcare and renewable energy, encouraging learners to explore these fields.

It featured science-related exhibitions by the Science, Technology and Innovation Department, higher education institutions and innovation companies. 

Nzimande also shared insights on the role of science and technology in driving innovation and economic growth.

The day provided learners with a platform to engage with professionals in various fields and gain valuable insights into potential career paths. 

Hlomuka said the academy, named after the revolutionary academic and founding president of the African National Congress Youth League, Anton Lembede, was living up to its namesake’s legacy.

He said the school’s philosophy was rooted in Lembede’s belief that education was key to breaking generational poverty and achieving African liberation and self-reliance.

“He was an educator and philosopher who came from a poor background and, therefore, he believed that it is through education that we can break generational poverty. That is why government decided to name the school after him,” Hlomuka said. 

KwaZulu-Natal was the second highest achiever in last year’s matric exams, and Hlomuka said the province would continue to improve and adapt the curriculum, develop world-class infrastructure and leverage technology to simulate laboratory environments.

In line with these efforts, two projects were on the horizon – the Maritime School of Excellence in the Umlazi district and the Mbuso Kubheka ICT, Engineering and Technology School of Excellence in Amajuba district.

They will open their doors next year.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Pamela Nkabane has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proclamation authorising a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into the long-troubled National Skills Fund (NSF).

This follows years of allegations of corruption, mismanagement and financial irregularities.

The SIU will investigate serious maladministration, improper conduct by NSF officials and potential mismanagement of billions of rands earmarked for youth and skills development programmes between January 2013 and March 2025.

The focus will include questionable procurement processes, irregular appointments of service providers and training projects linked to Parliament and recent media exposés.

“The NSF is a law-abiding entity under my department. It has a duty to comply with the laws of our country and thus will fully participate and make available all necessary information to the SIU, including information on internal investigations initiated by the fund and previous investigative reports,” Nkabane said in statement.

The move follows sustained criticism from Parliament, forensic audits and mounting public outrage over alleged misuse of public funds that were meant to combat South Africa’s deepening youth unemployment crisis.

The NSF has been at the centre of several corruption allegations in recent years.

A 2024 audit by Nexus Forensic Services revealed that R286 million in project funds remains unaccounted for, with funds often channeled to companies or cooperatives that failed to deliver promised training or services.

One notorious case involved a KwaZulu-Natal-based cooperative, Yikhonolakho Women and Youth Primary Cooperative, which received R123 million to run a rabbit farming project.

Only R1.6 million was spent on the intended purpose; the rest allegedly went toward purchasing a farm and a luxury Nissan Navara, with no visible evidence of a functioning rabbit farm when investigators visited the site.

In another scandal, R131 million meant for artisan training in the Eastern Cape disappeared without trace.

Despite an original project budget of R187 million, beneficiaries in areas like Bizana and Lusikisiki were left untrained, with no explanation for the vast shortfall.

A further R130 million designated for youth-owned SMME training through the Small Enterprise Development Agency reportedly failed to reach intended recipients.

Facilitators and trainees in the New Venture Creation Programme went unpaid, despite government contracts having already disbursed the funds.

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education has repeatedly condemned the NSF’s dysfunction, especially its underspending of R3.7 billion in the previous financial year.

Committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie described the misappropriation of funds as “deeply troubling,” and questioned the lack of consequence management for officials implicated in wrongdoing.

In a briefing in February this year, Parliament criticised the absence of key NSF and department executives from oversight meetings and slammed the redeployment of implicated NSF staff to other directorates as a practice that undermines accountability.

The committee called on Ramaphosa to extend the SIU’s mandate and vowed to ensure transparency and accountability within the NSF.

Nkabane expressed hope that the SIU probe would lay the groundwork for a “new trajectory” at the NSF, which she emphasised played a vital role in addressing skills shortages and empowering the youth.

Despite its challenges, higher education maintained that the NSF remained a key national vehicle for funding training and development programmes, and that the SIU investigation could be a turning point in a saga marked by scandal, squandered opportunity and public betrayal.

HIGHER EDUCATION

By Thebe Mabanga

The provinces that have delivered education budget votes, as well as those that have delivered their provincial budgets, reflect the persistent disparities in education across the country.

Early childhood development and the funding of teacher posts are top priorities across most provinces, with schooling infrastructure and investment in improving outcomes also receiving priority.

Most provinces have not delivered their education budget vote, and these will be adjusted once the new budget is delivered next Wednesday.

The Western Cape delivered its budget vote in April. The education department received the largest share of the budget at R33.2 billion, which is a 5.9% increase compared to last year’s budget.

MEC David Maynier described the department’s priorities as improving learning outcomes, expanding access to education, creating secure school environments, supporting vulnerable learners and ensuring sustainability.

The most pressing of these appears to be expanding access to education as the Western Cape is the fastest growing province in the country due to inward migration.

Maynier said this year, the province received 116,000 applications. It has allocated R 2,8 billion for schooling infrastructure to improve access by building new classrooms and supporting the growth of independent schools.  

The province also has a highly successful programme called Back on Track, which has seen learner outcomes improve across a range of metrics. The programme received R322 million.

In Limpopo, the department of education was allocated R42.529 billion.

MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya described the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) as “the heartbeat of dignity and equity in Limpopo’s education system”.  With an allocation of R1.8 billion, the programme feeds 1.4 million (78%) learners out of 1, 8 million.

She notes that the Education Infrastructure Grant “is the cornerstone of Limpopo’s mission to dismantle the spatial and structural legacy of apartheid”, with an allocation of R1.567 billion.

Gauteng’s allocation reflects the province’s status as the country’s most prosperous and receives R69.6 billion, and cumulatively R211.2 billion over the next three years.

“This is to be directed to expand access to quality basic education and early childhood development and improved education outcomes for women, girl, youth and persons with disabilities.” according to finance MEC Lebogang Maile.

The province is to also have a once-off allocation of R207 million in 2025/26 for the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, targeting the teacher assistant programme in the department. The hiring of assistants has proven to be a significant employment creator across the board.

Maile also notes that in terms of education infrastructure, it is anticipated that 13,436 jobs will be created on infrastructure projects in the medium term.

The Free State’s budget partly explains why it is the best performing province on the national matric pass rate for the past few years.

The provincial department received an additional amount of R93 million through the Performance Based Incentive System programme, which is managed by the National Treasury.

The incentive is for provinces that deliver infrastructure efficiently from planning to execution.

The province is further allocated R68.8 million for the implementation of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, specifically for the employment of the teacher assistants in the current financial year.

Overall, the education department is allocated R18.8 billion in 2025/26, and R59 billion over the next three years. Priorities include ECD, funding public schools, including special and independent schools, maths and science programmes and teacher development among others.

The combined health and education infrastructure budget for the province is R 59 billion.

Mpumalanga grapples with the reality that 83% of its schools are no fee schools, suggesting a disproportionately heavy reliance on the provincial fiscus. The education department also receives the largest share of the provincial budget at R28,8 billion.

The province allocates R 717,6 million to the e-learning programme from Grade 10 and R 1,8 billion over the medium term. School support over three years receives R 4,2 billion while teacher support receives R 1,1 billion.

The province allocated | R304.5 million over the MTEF is already in the baseline of the department for the construction of the School for the Deaf and Blind, while R103.4 million is added to the equitable share of the department for the recruitment of teacher assistants to support educators with various tasks in the classroom.

In the Eastern Cape, the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative plays a key job creation role. The programme is targeting to employ 6400 young people as educator assistants with a budget of R165.6 million in this financial year.

The province said it has been urged to employ more teachers. The education budget stands at R44.6 billion in 2025/26, or 49% of spending, and R138.8 billion over the next three years.

KwaZulu-Natal has seen its schooling infrastructure ravaged by floods in recent years and is acutely affected by the shortage of teaching posts. Its education department’s budget vote for 2025/26 is R62,9 billion, with 80% allocated to employee compensation.

The education infrastructure grant increases by R93 million to R2.5 billion. This also includes an incentive for the department to meet 84% of its infrastructure plans and delivery targets.

An additional R29.1 billion has been allocated to education towards addressing the budget pressures from the cuts of the last few years.  KZN, like most provinces, has received allocation to cover the higher wage settlement of 2025 as well as the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, which will be used to employ 10,322 educator assistants in 2025/26 on a 12-month contract.

The National School Nutrition Programme, which attracted tender and funding controversy in recent years, received an increase of R33.3 million this financial year, to R2.3 billion.

Early Childhood Development grant increases by oR17.4 million to R308,6 million. This is to support the infrastructure component of this grant

The Northern Cape education department

“This is a significant allocation, and the department aims to address challenges like poor learning outcomes, access to education, secure school environments and supporting vulnerable learners,” the department said.

Lastly, the North West education budget stands at R1.9 billion, with allocations specifically for infrastructure and ECD as top priorities.

It is unclear what kind of impact the third national budget is going to have on the provincial education budgets, but many have pleaded for the sector, which has been facing austerity for the last 10 years, not to have to deal with further cuts.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

In a move to celebrate school sports and community pride, SuperSport Schools and Edgars have announced a new partnership designed to uplift young athletes, passionate fans and the families who support them.

The collaboration aims to deepen emotional connections with communities and place a spotlight on the transformative power of youth sports in South Africa.

SuperSport Schools, a platform renowned for broadcasting school-level sports and nurturing young talent, will now team up with Edgars, one of South Africa’s most iconic lifestyle retailers.

The partnership is set to amplify the joy and spirit of school sports by launching campaigns and initiatives that honour not only the athletes, but also the parents, supporters and educators who form the backbone of school sports culture.

Norman Drieselmann, CEO of Retailability (Edgars’ parent company), highlighted the natural alignment between the two brands.

“School sports are synonymous with families, and so is Edgars. This is not just an investment; it’s about being part of something that is growing and impacting communities in a powerful way.

“This is more than just a sponsorship, it’s a movement that celebrates the people who make school sports so special. We want to be there for every moment, from the first whistle to the final cheer,” Drieselmann said.

At the heart of the partnership is the launch of the My Moment campaign, an interactive social media initiative inviting fans, players and parents to share their most treasured sporting memories.

Whether it’s a game-winning goal, a team huddle or a proud family moment in the stands, users are encouraged to clip, edit, and post their highlights using the hashtag #MyEdgarsMoment.

By tagging SuperSport Schools and Edgars, participants will enter weekly draws to win exclusive prizes, including Edgars vouchers.

Beyond social media, the campaign will evolve to include additional community-driven events and recognitions, aiming to ensure inclusivity across the country’s diverse school sports landscape.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Buti Manamela

Tshilidzi Marwala, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, is now the Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) in Tokyo, Japan and a UN Under-Secretary-General.

In August 2023, he was appointed to the United Nations Scientific Advisory Council. A global scholar of artificial intelligence, Marwala is among South Africa’s most distinguished academic exports.

His international appointment is not only a personal honour—it is a reminder that our country has long been both a contributor to and a beneficiary of global academic exchange. The question now raised by some populist voices is: should he and others like him return home to make space for South Africans?

That, essentially, is the dangerous logic behind the latest xenophobic campaign, dressed up as concern for South African jobs in academia.

This week, a Patriotic Alliance Member of Parliament, Ashley Sauls, accused universities of prioritising foreign nationals over South African academics, citing a single contested case at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and extrapolating it into an alarming generalisation.

Sauls’s confidence is matched only by his lack of understanding. He has taken one grievance and distorted it into a narrative that undermines both institutional integrity and our country’s international standing.

Let’s be clear: South African universities are not flooded with foreign staff.

They are struggling—still—to become truly representative of our demographics, values and developmental priorities. But foreign nationals are not the obstacle. The real crisis lies in our failure to invest in and grow a new generation of black South African academics.

According to the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) Report on the Recruitment, Retention and Progression of Black South African Academics, South Africans make up 88.4% of the academic staff in our universities. Foreign nationals—who often bring scarce expertise or participate in global research collaborations—constitute only 11.2% of the total academic cohort.

More importantly, many of those international academics are black Africans, whose presence in South African lecture halls should be a source of solidarity, not suspicion.

The MTT Report identified the real barriers to transformation as:

• A shrinking and unequal postgraduate pipeline, especially in STEM and health sciences.

• Exclusionary institutional cultures that marginalise black scholars, particularly women.

• Poor working conditions and heavy teaching loads, leaving little room for research or advancement.

• Fragmented policy and funding support for initiatives like nGAP (New Generation of Academics Programme) , which are critical to building black academic excellence.

These are the bottlenecks. Not fellow scholars from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya.

In fact, many senior South African academics and vice-chancellors have benefitted from international exposure—studying or working in the US, UK, Germany, China, Brazil and across the continent. Are we now to punish those whose careers were sharpened abroad? Or suggest that they have no right to shape the institutions they now lead?

It is precisely through international engagement that we sharpen our intellectual tools. South Africa collaborated with global institutions to develop and trial Covid-19 vaccines that saved millions of lives—right here, led by African scientists and researchers. That is what international collaboration looks like: not replacement, but empowerment.

To suggest otherwise is to play directly into xenophobic populism, with dangerous consequences. The last time this rhetoric escalated, lives were lost. Shops were burned. Migrants were hunted. South Africa’s reputation took a beating on the global stage.

The PA MP may be right to raise a grievance about an individual hiring case at a university—but to generalise it into an anti-foreigner campaign is reckless and disingenuous. It’s not transformation. It’s opportunism.

Let’s be honest: if transformation was truly the concern, then Sauls would be championing postgraduate funding, fixing NSFAS bottlenecks, defending nGAP and holding universities accountable for succession planning. Instead, what we get is easy scapegoats and political posturing.

What we need is not louder voices—but better ones. Let’s cherish the black academics we can attract, from both South Africa and the continent, and build a system that grows more like them—with rigorous support, mentorship, and public investment.

Let us fix the real problems: underfunding, institutional inertia, the lack of coherence in building academic careers. But let us not turn fellow scholars into enemies. In the battle for transformation, our best allies are those who believe in justice, equity and the power of shared knowledge.

We don’t build a better academy by building walls. We build it by growing our own—while learning with, and from, the world.

Buti Manamela is the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Edwin Naidu

The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, is acutely aware of the pressing crisis facing the country’s skills sector. She takes swift and decisive steps to address the challenges, recognising the urgent need for action.

While in higher education circles, it was lamented how her predecessor, Prof. Blade Nzimande, filled up boards of training authorities under his watch with South African Communist Party acolytes or friends, whose disastrous impact has held the skills training back and made many wealthy through unscrupulous means without any of them paying the price.

Just look at the many shenanigans affecting skills bodies under Nzimande’s watch; many investigations have not even come to light. Under him, when the proverbial poo hit the fan, Nzimande changed executives and boards.

His musical chairs still hit the wrong notes at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme – a mess of Nzimande’s making, for which nobody held him accountable.

In the skills sector, there are rumours that Nzimande had asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to hand over the Sector Education Training Authorities to him. If true, gladly, they say, the president declined his request. If merit in this maddening request, this could be one of Ramaphosa’s most important decisions.

While those within the better-performing SETAs are breathing a sigh of relief, save for those shady CEOS who had Nzimande’s support, the bad news for them is that Nkabane has quietly been removing former board members and putting in people with track records.

Under Nzimande’s watch, half of the country’s 21 SETAS previously received adverse audits from the Auditor-General.

To her credit, Nkabane expects boards to be centres of excellence in skills training and governance, financial management and compliance. She has also pledged to conduct rigorous performance evaluations of SETA chief executive officers and board members, ensuring responsible management of public funds.

One cannot imagine Nzimande watching too comfortably, realising the House of Cards he served is collapsing.

Skills and South Africa first is the mantra from Nkabane. At the recent induction of the 6th Board of the National Skills Authority (NSA) in Midrand, Nkabane was clear on the board’s potential to drive transformation and how best to modernise the post-school education and training systems to meet the needs of the economy.

Unlike the previous administration, which faced a significant voter backlash, Nkabane is acutely aware of the growing impatience among citizens. She is committed to taking action now, ensuring that our decisions align with values of integrity and ethical leadership.

Nkabane has underscored the significance of the Skills Development Act, which forms the basis for SETAs and Quality Council for Trades and Occupations.

She highlighted the pressing issue of youth unemployment, with an estimated 3.5 million young South Africans aged 15-24 not in employment, education or training.

She said the SETAs must respond to the rapid pace of industry change by integrating digital skills such as e-commerce, cybersecurity, cloud computing and digital marketing into their training programs.

South Africa must support her in ensuring that the skills revolution is led by credible people and not cronies who have been allowed to dumb down skills for too long.

As she rightly points out, our youth need hope – and credible people driving skills who can give it to them without focusing on their pockets. South Africans deserve better.

Edwin Naidu is the Editor of Inside Education.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Lungile Ntimba

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape has sent its wishes to over 37,000 candidates undertaking the May/June National Senior Certificate and Senior Certificate examinations in the province this week.

“We encourage every candidate to give their best during this examination period. This is more than just a rewrite or a second opportunity, it is a brave step forward towards a brighter future, and we applaud every learner who has committed to this journey,” DA education spokesperson Leon van Wyk said in a statement on Monday.

He said this examination period presented an important opportunity for learners to enhance their matric results or complete their secondary education, which could significantly influence their future academic and career prospects.

According to the department, 25,615 candidates were rewriting one or more NSC subjects, while 11,609 learners were taking the exams to obtain their matric qualifications.

The DA commended the department for its meticulous planning and effective management of the examination process, which spans 165 exam centres and covered 54 subjects.

The party also praised the department’s commitment to creating a fair and supportive environment, enabling all candidates to showcase their academic abilities. 

Van Wyk acknowledged the role of the Second Chance Matric Support Programme, which provided free tutoring and study resources to assist candidates in preparing for the exams.

“Candidates writing the May/June NSC and SC exams are encouraged to make full use of all available resources – such as public libraries for a quiet and safe study environment, the WCED website for access to study materials, and local schools where additional support may be available.”

The party also urged all stakeholders—families, educators, and communities to continue supporting the candidates throughout the exam period, reiterating its commitment to fostering a culture of opportunity, support, and excellence in education in the province.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Paul Tarc

In the 1954 essay The Crisis in Education, German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt argued that crisis can act as an opportunity to revisit questions that have produced presumed and outdated answers.

Arendt was concerned with how the loss of tradition and authority in larger social and political spheres was reflected in the adoption of child-centred learning in public schooling in the United States.

She argued that, in education, educators must maintain their authority, which ultimately rested on their taking responsibility for the world and for children. Arendt urged people grappling with “why Johnny can’t read” to leave behind their pre-judged answers, and instead return to the very “essence of education.” For Arendt, this centred on how the human-constructed world can be passed on and “set right” with each new generation and across time.

The rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) presents a new crisis for the world and for education. Following Arendt, the crises that AI portends is a new vantage — or a rupture — to return to the question of what education is for.

Rupture of AI

Technologies have always mediated our understandings and practices of education: not only hardware or pencils, but writing itself can be understood as a technology. In our time, however, AI represents a qualitative rupture in contemporary practices and understandings of education.

As Yuval Noah Harari has argued, AI should be better understood as an agent than a tool. As an agent, it is designed and evolving as a self-learning entity able to make independent decisions; it alters past interdependencies of humans and technology.

Facing the impacts and intervention of AI, school policy experts, administrators and educators are pressed to react fairly quickly to try and maintain our favoured practices.

For example, we try to tweak our practices of assessment in the face of new AI technologies like ChatGPT. A major concern is students “cheating” on assessments and unfairly or illegitimately advancing through school. This knee-jerk approach by educators to tackle the use of AI reflects a dominant, taken-for-granted answer about the purpose of education: that schooling is a mechanism to filter and sort young generations for a merit-based society.

Could AI itself be used to catch cheating? Canadian computer science professor Mark Daley doesn’t think so. He writes: “Instead of chasing technological silver bullets, educators need to confront the harder questions: Why are students cheating? … How do we foster a culture of learning rather than one of grade-chasing?”

Beyond fair grade chasing

Generally, there is a lot of agreement on the need to go in the direction that Daley recommends.

For example, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has most recently included “global competence” into its global standardized testing of students. The OECD acknowledges the importance of learning processes, as well as outcomes, and of critical thinking and values like individual responsibility.

The International Baccalaureate (IB), created in the field of international schools in the 1960s, has now penetrated into both public and private systems across the globe. Although it began as the International Schools Examination Syndicate, its longstanding aspirational vision of creating a better world through a humanist education of the whole person has carried through into the 21st century.

Both of these more learner-centred visions for education, however, remain founded on these “filtering” uses of education. The IB’s very growth and sustainability and distinction lies in the positional advantage it affords its users. The OECD, more directly, reflects neoliberal, “human capital” conceptions of education that imply students are resources to be developed for the growth of a country’s economy.

I believe we must go further than (better) assessments of higher-order thinking and processes of learning designed to filter students more creatively and/or efficiently for work. We must nurture an educational orientation over an instrumental one.

High stakes

The stakes are high beyond education, because AI portends great disruptions to political economy, work and the organization of human societies. AI and automation might mean that human labour becomes an ever-lower percentage of overall labour and economic productivity. Will our political processes be largely determined by wealthy owners and partners of the AI industry, or by more democratic processes?

These possible transformations demand a reorientation of educational purpose to inform both school policies pertaining to uses of AI and data, and school curricula and teaching in classrooms.

Many teachers want to foster critical thinking and student participation over grade chasing in schools. This remains an important goal. But, more fundamentally, schools need to become educational spaces where the concept of cheating, or unfairly beating someone else, becomes senseless.

In this altered scenario, teachers and students would spend their time together in school examining, as Arendt said, “what the world is like,” how they are located within it and how it might be renewed and passed on across generations.

A shelter for thinking

Educators might take the opportunity to reconsider the function of schooling as educating children and youth to come to know, and participate in, a common world facing multiple crises. They are to be introduced to this world, in all its complexity, so that they develop understanding and care for the world and thereby choose to take responsibility for renewing and re-setting it, as adults.

In returning to Arendt’s question on the essence of education, education researcher Mario Di Paolantonio’s introduces an updated answer for schooling in articulating what is educational in schooling in a world under crises.

In his view, education provides a place, a “unique human dwelling, where we can maintain and give shelter to a thinking and engagement with ‘something more’ that sustains the hope and affirmation of nevertheless living on with significance.” It offers “a place for passing time together, for sheltering a repertoire of worldly artefacts, common visions, interpretations and aspirations.”

“These,” he writes, “can be brought into meaningful configurations gathered from the meaningful patterns of the past to help us tend, mend and repair the sense and pull of the world that wears down from generation to generation.”

By Paul Tarc is  Professor of Critical Policy, Equity and Leadership Studies, Western University

The Conversation

By Staff Reporter

The University of Pretoria (UP) is researching ways to help producers find new ways to grow white button mushrooms sustainably.

One of the projects includes growing the mushrooms in repurposed shipping containers.

“Many people think of mushrooms as a luxury item, without realising that they are a superfood packed with nutrients and represent a good alternative to meat products,” said Prof. Lise Korsten, who leads mushroom studies in the Plant Pathology Research Group of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS).

She is also co-director of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation’s National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence in Food Security.

“Biting into a freshly picked mushroom has the same crunchiness, earthy volatiles and unique taste as biting into a freshly harvested apple. Eating fresh mushrooms is healthy, fun and good for you,” Korsten said a statement.

A private investment company is funding a new cycle of mushroom-related research, with a focus being on developing innovative technologies to replace the use of peat and to find new solutions for developing, testing and commercialising transportable, small-scale mushroom farming units.

She said this concept could offer future small business operators the opportunity to produce mushrooms for their community and sell locally, thereby supporting the national mushroom industry to expand production volumes and provide people with an important food source.

Current projects build on expertise previously developed through funding in previous years from the SA Mushroom Farmers’ Association (SAMFA).

It was during this period, that the concept of a small-scale production unit was patented and a disease diagnostic service for the industry was developed. The disease diagnostic programme, MushDrops, was extended to include the monitoring of bacterial and fungal diseases on farms and provide farmers with advice on how to continually improve their production systems.

The current cycle has seen the team partner with a composting company and growers to upscale the programme. They aim to prove that white button mushrooms can be grown productively under controlled conditions in repurposed shipping containers.

Tapping into existing research, Dr Nazareth Siyoum of UP’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences who is co-principal investigator of the Mushroom Research Project, said existing infrastructure was also being reused, such as a container production unit conceptualised around 2010 but never commercialised because of a lack of funds.

Looking beyond peat, Siyoum said that different agricultural waste products were again being tested in search of homegrown, sustainable and commercially viable casing mediums as alternatives to peat.

The university said that peat was a scarce natural resource, and its mining was stopped in 2007. That led to South African producers starting to import peat, which has driven up the costs of mushrooms.

Also, Europe plans on phasing out mining and exporting peat by the end of 2030.

As an added bonus, fresh mushrooms being produced in a shipping container are being donated to UP’s Student Nutrition and Progress Programme (SNAPP), which supports students in need.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Levy Masiteng

Four exceptional South African learners are representing the country at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Columbus, Ohio in the United States.

The competition includes research projects from over 1800 high school learners. 

The learners are Salusiwe Mxayiya from Luhlaza High School in Khayelitsha, Ismaail (Miles) Hassen from Greenside High School in Johannesburg, Naveera Chana from Tesseract Homeschool in Johannesburg and Binyameen (Bini) Mohamedy from the University of Johannesburg Metropolitan Academy.

Mxayiya project is on investigating parasitic infection in marine species, Hassen’s in on developing assistive technology for the visually impaired, Chana focuses on creating a low-cost gas exchange system, and Mohamedy explores mathematical innovation in prime generating functions.

According to Eskom Expo academic director Krishnie Naidoo, the learners’ projects demonstrate a commitment to addressing real-world problems and showcase the calibre of local research. 

“The research done by our four participants is an indication that our youth are indeed responding to the needs of our time: sustainability, environmental concerns and inclusivity of differently abled persons,” she said. 

Eskom Development Foundation acting CEO Mologadi Motshele said that the inclusion of South African learners in the Regeneron ISEF highlighted the international standard of local research. 

“Our commitment to developing the next generation of scientists and engineers through the Eskom Expo remains steadfast,” she said.

The Western Cape education department has also expressed pride in Mxayiya’s achievement, highlighting her potential and the opportunities provided by the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists. 

“Being a part of a group that goes to represent South Africa in the Regeneron ISEF in the United States means that I get to be a part of something that is so significant, and I get to inspire other kids in my school and community. It is a dream come true for me and something to give pride to my country, family and school,” said Mxayiya.

The department noted the significance of nurturing young scientific talent.

Eskom Expo’s district expos are currently underway in all provinces across the country and learners from Grade 4 to 12 are encouraged to register their research projects.

INSIDE EDUCATION