Jackie Phahlamohlaka, Founder SEIDET
- Founder Member of the Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust (SEIDET).
Podcast
Overview
Commissioned by Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust (SEIDET), South African researchers came together to develop a handbook that provides practical approaches to building smart communities for underdeveloped and information-deprived communities in developing countries.
00:52- About Jackie Phahlamohlaka
- Founder Member of the Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust (SEIDET)
- Through SEIDET, he played a remarkable role in contributing to the building of an Information Society in South Africa.
- The work he has done is documented in a book titled Community Driven Projects: “A Case study of science education and Information Technology in South Africa”
- Chairman of the Board of the KwaNdebele Computer Education Centre VUKUZENZELE Community Organization
- Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to Education, Science, and Technology. Dr. JS Moroka Local Municipality, March 2011.
- Chairperson and member of the South African National Committee for the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
- A South African National Representative in IFIP General Assembly
- A Scholar / Advisory Board Member – Centre for Research in Information and Cybersecurity (CRICS) at Nelson Mandela University
- Author of a number of books
04:20- How did you go to Canada?
- I was awarded a scholarship by the South African Education Trust Fund, A Canadian Government Funded program through CIDA, and Managed in South Africa by the Educational Opportunities Council (EOC) at the time.
- The EOC selection process was very intense, and I still remember one question that they asked me which I will never forget.
06:59- What was the need for SEIDET?
- I studied Mathematics and the Natural Sciences, and I was one of those that were angered by the apartheid proponents that black children must not study Mathematics and that they cannot understand it.
- Many schools around Siyabuswa and the surrounding areas were as a result not teaching Mathematics and Natural Sciences at their Schools.
- Children from South Africa and the KwaNdebele area were thus deprived of opportunities to get into careers that were much needed in the economy of the country.
- Also, King Mayisha of Ndzundza Mabhoko of the Ndebele Nation confronted me with similar anger, after hearing in 1990 that I am studying Mathematics in Canada.
- He told me he believed that there was something I could do to contribute to changing the apartheid-entrenched and accepted narrative by the black majority that black children will not understand Mathematics, and therefore it must not be taught to them.
- As the world knows, this was a serious crime.
- I started in May 1990 to consult very widely, both in South Africa and in Canada as to how one could make a contribution, and SEIDET was founded.
31:04- Advice to young people starting out on their journey
- Define your area of focus as early as possible in your life and stick to it.
- See failure as a learning opportunity, but never quit!!
RESOURCES:
You can connect with Jackie Phahlamohlaka | LinkedIn
Profile
- Founder Member of the Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust (SEIDET)
- Through SEIDET, he played a remarkable role in contributing to the building of an Information Society in South Africa.
- The work he has done is documented in a book titled Community Driven Projects: “A Case study of science education and Information Technology in South Africa”
- Chairman of the Board of the KwaNdebele Computer Education Centre VUKUZENZELE Community Organization
- Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to Education, Science, and Technology. Dr. JS Moroka Local Municipality, March 2011.
- Chairperson and member of the South African National Committee for the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
- A South African National Representative in IFIP General Assembly
- A Scholar / Advisory Board Member – Centre for Research in Information and Cybersecurity (CRICS) at Nelson Mandela University
- Author of a number of books
