By Levy Masiteng
The Rhodesfield Engineering School of Specialisation has received a decommissioned Embraer 135 passenger jet from Airlink that will be used as a teaching aid.
The Gauteng education department said the donation aimed to provide learners with hands-on experience in aviation maintenance and engineering.
The school, in Kempton Park in Ekurhuleni, currently has 45 learners enrolled in aviation as their eighth matric subject. The 13 girls and 32 boys are mostly from Tembisa.
“We want youngsters to dream and believe that a career in aviation is within their reach, whether in the flight deck, the cabin, the maintenance hangar or at head office,” said de Villiers Engelbrecht, the Airlink CEO.
Principal Caroline Ngxanga welcomed the aircraft as an “invaluable teaching aid”.
She said that learners would now be able to bridge theory with practice in ways that were previously inaccessible.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi described the handover as a historic moment for township education.
“My dream was very simple; you cannot have a school a stone’s throw from the airport while our children remain excluded from the economy of aviation. Today, Airlink has agreed to be a partner for life,” Lesufi said.
Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane said that learners deserved world-class education.
“… it’s a declaration that the sky is no longer the limit, but the beginning of infinite possibilities,” he said.
The department said the aircraft would expose learners to hydraulics, avionics, flight control and engine maintenance. This would provide them with real-world experience in modern aerospace engineering and design.
“This aircraft will revolutionise learning,” Chiloane said during the handover.
“Learners will no longer just read about aviation. They will live it. They will touch, explore and master the various systems that power the aviation industry.
“The aviation industry contributes billions to our GDP and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. By training world-class professionals here in Gauteng, we are investing in the prosperity that will ripple across generations.”
Lesufi said there were a few other projects that would still be launched, including an ICT school that would focus on data, connectivity and telecommunications.
“In life, if you need the chalk, the chalkboard and duster, you must go to a museum. You must never come to our schools. Because in our school, it’s one learner, one tablet, one teacher, one laptop, one school, one connectivity. And that’s how we take the future forward. Let’s keep that future,” he said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
