National Science Week 2013

The National Science Week is an annual celebration of science and innovation that takes place in all nine provinces. This year, the week will run from Monday 29 July to Saturday, 3 August 2013.

The theme for the week is Celebrating Scientific Areas in which South Africa has a Competitive Edge.

The main areas of focus include:

• Astronomy
• Mathematics
• Indigenous knowledge
• Marine Sciences
• Palaeontology
• South African inventions

The Western Cape Government continues the lead in prioritising the delivery and roll-out of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure to strengthen and support quality teaching and learning in provincial schools by supporting e-Education through a number of channels:

1. The provisioning of technology to new schools and the upgrading or advancement of technology in existing schools.

2. Researching and evaluating the use of e-Education methodologies and cutting-edge technologies.

3. Training in ICT for educators.

4. The sourcing, procurement and provisioning of digital resources through multiple access points.

5. On-going support of e-Education at schools.

Western Cape Education Minister Donald Grant said: “As part of efforts to integrate ICT into our schools, we plan to provide schools with appropriate new technologies in innovative and appropriate configurations and architectures. This will include Wi-Fi technology in all schools to expand access to the broadband network.”

Minister Grant said investing in education is the best investment one can make in South Africa.

"By harnessing the power of technology to deliver a quality curriculum, we could ultimately revolutionise how teaching takes place in this province," he said.