BMW ENDORSE A SOSHANGUVE BASED SECONDARY SCHOOL.

Soshanguve Technical Secondary School was chosen as one of the schools of Specialisation in South Africa. In partnership with BMW SA, the Gauteng MEC of Education, Panyaza Lesufi launched the Soshanguve Engineering School of Specialisation on Tuesday 9^th of April to equip learners with all the necessary skills needed to succeed in the automotive industry. BMW donated one of its models, BMW X3 to the School to give its learners the opportunity to study the car and hopefully use the skills to their advantage.

Tim Abbott, CEO of BMW South Africa also joined the handover of the BMW car to the school and he emphasized on how BMW has always supported education and remains a focus for all their cooperate responsible society. “It has been our privilege to support in various ways 144 skills across South Africa for the past decades” said the CEO of BMW. Not only does BMW handover the car but will also be providing training and materials to help learners to work on building their cars.

MEC Panyaza Lesufi, said that by bringing BMW to the school means that gone are the days when learners only chased on solely getting a Matric certificate. The MEC further more added that “We are not saying that a matric certificate is not important, but we can’t have a one dimensional certificated learner, we must have a multi certificated learner”.

Learners as well as their parents came in numbers to support the programme. Learners showcased their workshop and the cars they have been working on and a school choir sang to welcome MEC and to show their appreciation. Another high school from Ga-Rankuwa, Tebogwana Comprehensive High school was also present during the handover as it is also one of the schools which will be benefiting from the programme. Gauteng premier David Makhura was also present and gave his words of appreciation to BMW South Africa and to the MEC Panyaza Lesufi. The premier also clarified on the importance of the skills provided to the learners and how they should take care of the equipment. “Soshanguve learners you are joining a global community today so it is your responsibility to take care of the equipment inside the school” commented Makhura. The BWM X3 car was the first ever out of 20 to have been donated to a school by the company of BMW, the remaining will be donated to other high schools, science centres and universities all over South Africa.

By: AMOGELANG RAMOTSHO