“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
It is this mantra by the late former President Nelson Mandela that Mayor Cllr James Nxumalo said should resonate in the minds of the four eThekwini pupils who will be representing South Africa in South Korea at the end of the month.
The Grade 7 pupils, Thuthuka Mkhize, Amahle Qangule and Andiswa Gama from Penzance Primary School as well as Aphiwe Buthelezi from St. Henry’s Marist College will travel to South Korea to participate in the International Maths Competition which will be held in Daejeon from 21 to 26 July 2014.
The four will compete against pupils from countries such as South Korea, India, Hong Kong and China.
The pupils will be accompanied by two eThekwini officials and a KwaZulu-Natal Co-ordinator.
During an interaction with the pupils at the City Engineers building yesterday, Nxumalo said he was proud of the four children who made it through the gruelling qualifying rounds.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the pupils especially because it involves Maths and Science.It is important for young people to acquire maths and science skills and share such expertise to help grow the City’s economy.It is a reality that we still need more professionals in the Mathematics and Science sectors,” he said.
Nxumalo said he was overwhelmed with joy by what the four pupils had achieved.
“To me these young people are already winners just by being selected to participate in this competition,” he said.
Andiswa and Aphiwe, both 13-years-old, said all four of them worked hard to qualify for the competition.
“We all worked hard, and all four of us sat down with our teachers and prepared for the competition. Now we look forward to participating in the competition in South Korea,” said Andiswa.
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