In line with the Mining Charter, diversified mining company Rio Tinto states that it is committed to making contributions towards ensuring that children are better informed about career opportunities in the mining and energy sectors.
The company has participated in the Department of Mineral Resources’ Learners’ Focus Week, in the Eastern Cape, which was aimed at informing South African learners in grades 10 to 12 studying maths, science and technology about career opportunities in the mining sector.
In addition, the Focus Week aims to mobilise support for skills development in the mining sector and make children aware of the impact that this sector has on their day-to-day lives. This year’s Learners’ Focus Week was attended by 250 learners from the Free State, North West and Eastern Cape provinces.
The compacrusher plant theory of workingny has for many years promoted and funded a wide variety of education programmes around its operations across the globe, says Rio Tinto vice-president for communications and external relations Jean Chawapiwa-Pama.
“Rio Tinto recognised early on that education is key to sustainable development and, to that end, introduced, maintained and financed education initiatives in all of its operational areas in Africa.
“We have also prioritised education in the form of maths and science, numeracy, european manufacturers of mobile crusherliteracy and life skills training when identifying programme oppor- tunities”, she adds.
In a number of Rio Tinto operations across Africa, programmes that centre not only on the development of learners in the area of maths and science, but also on the training of teachers, have been introduced.
“Maths and science as well as a good understanding of English are considered ‘gateway’ subjects as they provide the basics of learning and the gateway to further education in a range of disciplinesjaw crushers supplier in russia. Rio Tinto has set up maths and science labs across the country that provide additional access to maths and science teaching. Most of the labs are fully equipped with the latest equipment and all the up-to-date computing technology,” Chawapiwa-Pama tells Mining Weekly.
Rio Tinto’s Palabora Foundation, in South Africa, manages the corporate and social investment for the company’s copper mine and has also honed in on maths and science for the Phalaborwa community. Two education centres have been established with the intentsmall used rock crushersion of complementing the courses available from local schools.
The current programmes being run by the Palabora Foundation include Master Maths, Techno Kids and the Programme for Technological Careers (Protec). About 30 learners, aged from 10 years to 18 years, are selected each year and receive specialised training in maths and science at one of the two education centres built by the foundation. “Of those who complete the programme, about 70% to 80% achieve adequate passes in their matric exams to gain entry to a quality university,” says Chawapiwa-Pama.
Much of the additional learning is ‘self-learning’ with students following modules on computers. The learners are not left to their own devices though, and a mentor or teacher is always available to provide support. To date, the programme has yielded very goods results with eight to ten of the learners in the programme earning distinctions in the matric exam in these subjects each year.
The Protec programme, which runs during the final three years of secondary school, started ten years ago and has achieved consistently positive results ever since. Many of the matriculants are selected to receive bursaries from Rio Tinto.
The Techno Kids programme offers intensive maths and science teaching for younger learners. With this programme, Rio Tinto intends to introduce the focus on maths and science when the children are five years old.
At Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), 70 talented maths and science learners were selected by Rio Tinto from local high schools to receive extra support in those subjects for a year. The company hopes that these students will be future bursars and that their exposure to science and tech- nology careers through the Careers’ Day held at RBM will lead them into careers in technical fields that are experiencing a skills shortage affecting the industry.