Pupils spread their wings with aviation studies

● Though the matric class of 2021 faced their toughest year in grade 11 because of Covid disruptions, it didn’t deter a small group of them from reaching for the sky.

Tshegofatso Ngobeni, 19, from the Rhodesfield Engineering School of Specialisation in Kempton Park, Gauteng, and four of her peers are flying high after enrolling for a remote pilot licence programme to qualify as drone pilots.

They started the course during the height of the pandemic in 2020 when they were in grade 11, and on Thursday wrote an exam set by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The programme is managed by the SciBono Discovery Centre, which is supporting the Gauteng education department with its maths, science and technology education programme.

The drone initiative is part of the department’s multi-certification skills programme aimed at giving pupils competency in addition to subjects for matric certificates.

Aviation studies isn’t part of the curriculum at Rhodesfield yet, but at least 18 other new subjects have been introduced nationally over the past five years by the department of basic education.

These include aquaponics, maritime sciences, ancillary health care, and maintenance and upholstery.

Ngobeni said she became keen on aviation when she was in grade 10 because it was “an interesting field”.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to become a drone pilot and then a pilot. It was something totally different,” she said.

Being selected for the programme was not easy; the pupils had to undergo stringent medical tests.

They also had to pass “ground school”, comprising written exams in seven different subjects in which the pass mark was 75%.

Ngobeni said Thursday’s paper, the restricted radio licence exam, was tough, adding: “I wrote to the best of my ability.”

Fellow pupil Sthembiso Sibuye, 20, said he was passionate about flying and wants to become a pilot or an air-traffic controller.

“There’s a lot going on in the skies that I didn’t know about, such as reading altitude, which we are actually learning about right now,” he said.

Once they qualify, the pupils can find work at companies that require drone pilots for photography, videography, security, surveying, mapping and blast monitoring.

Ansie Ras, headmistress of Rhodesfield, said the programme was “very exciting and a great opportunity” for pupils, and they did not have to pay a cent for the course.

“In addition to their matric certificate, these learners will have another skill,” she said.

Jonathan Vieira, head of the RPAS Training Academy, which provided the training, said some of the pupils had started with practical training, but that was put on hold to give them time to focus on preparing for their grade 12 exams.

“To qualify for the remote pilot licence, they have to pass all the exams and need to become competent at doing specific practical exercises,” he said.

A group of 12 pupils from Cape Town also made history after becoming the first matriculants in Africa to write a grade 12 exam in marine sciences.

These pupils included six from Wynberg Girls High, four from South Peninsula High School in Plumstead, and one each from Norman Henshilwood High School and the Cape Academy of Maths, Science & Technology in Constantia.

The subject was taught after school on two afternoons a week. Despite the challenges, three of the pupils bagged distinctions.

Marine sciences teacher Matthew Schroeder said he would encourage more pupils to study marine sciences because “it exposes our kids to the marine environment and how we impact it by encouraging responsible citizenry”.