Sasol Limited Sustainability Report 2021 - Book - Page 32
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SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE AGAINST OUR FOCUS AREAS: GROWING SHARED VALUE – SASOL IN SOCIETY (CONTINUED)
Access to quality education (continued)
STEM in schools
Access to tertiary education
Our interventions aim to enhance STEM education outcomes through teachers, learners, learning resources,
career guidance and infrastructure improvement programmes.
We invest in tertiary education to help individuals build the skills that will enable them to participate in the economy, contribute
to social development and allow them to be responsible self-reliant citizens. We also support institutions with research and
capacity building for innovation, economic growth and social advancement.
Progress
Progress
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA
Academic year 2020 was a particularly difficult year with
the school calendar disrupted by COVID-19 lockdowns. We
embarked on an a Grade 12 recovery project, supporting
learners with online classes to get them ready for yearend exams. We also extended this support to Grades 8 and
9 in our TechSENET schools. Our interventions contributed
to improvements in matric results in Sasolburg, Secunda,
Badplaas and Ekandustria. As a result we awarded prizes
to top performers in STEM to promote excellence among
learners and schools.
At the Mpumalanga provincial awards, we sponsored
ten prizes for Mathematics, Science, Technical Science,
Technical Mathematics and the best overall performer.
Teacher support
• In the ever-changing STEM learning environment, it
is essential for teachers to improve their curriculum
knowledge and enhance their teaching skills. For the
coding and robotics curriculum, we contributed to the
development of the teacher orientation manual and
supported the training of the 200 subject advisors
in the national task team of the Department of Basic
Education.
• To improve technical skills, 30 teachers in our
TechSeNet programme were trained in boilermaking,
fitting and turning, electrical work and welding.
• In Sasolburg, we supported 71 teachers through the
Boitjhorisong Resource Centre and the Jumpstart
Programme to enhance Mathematics teaching skills in
primary schools.
Promotion of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in
Schools
• Our bursary programmes offer a comprehensive package that includes academic and psychosocial support to enable
students to deal with academic demands as well as other issues that may impact their performance.
• We are supporting the introduction of the 4IR skills
in basic education by contributing to development
of the coding and robotics curriculum which will be
implemented in all the public schools in South Africa. In
the 2021 academic year it is being piloted in Grade R to
Grade 3 and Grade 7 in 200 primary schools.
• To ensure that students start their careers on a strong footing, we offer work readiness courses to all our students. As
part of building skills and enhancing livelihoods of youth in our fenceline communities, we provide bursary support for
eligible students to access tertiary education.
• Sasol collaborates with universities to strengthen their research and development capacity. In 2021, we disbursed grants
worth R11 million to five universities.
• We held training in robotics and coding for 200 teachers
from across all provinces. This curriculum will be rolled
out by the Department of Basic Education in 2022.
Learner support
• Learner support is a critical element in increasing
participation in STEM education. Sasol learner support
projects offer extra tuition to more than 6 936 learners
in Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the afternoons,
during weekends, through holiday camps and classroom
interventions.
• In addition, our mobile laboratories continue to reach
the most remote schools and provide learners access
to science experiments that they would otherwise not
cover because of lack of resources in their schools.
MOZAMBIQUE
• Our interventions to contribute to building a pool of oil and gas graduates in the country continue. Our initial target was
to release 37 oil and gas graduates in the country by the end of 2022.
• So far 25 have graduated, and there are 12 remaining in institutions in Malaysia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Plans are underway for selection of new bursars.
NORTH AMERICA
We provide scholarships to unemployed and under-employed residents of Southwest Louisiana to help them improve
their career outcomes, by attending either ABC School or SOWELA school to obtain a certification and/or degree. To date,
we have awarded a total of 319 scholarships and 72% of graduates are employed.
Technical education in schools
• Over the years, the Sasol Foundation has played a
pivotal role in embedding technical subjects, building
teacher capacity and providing the resources required
for technical education to succeed in the South African
schooling system. The Sasol Foundation supports
five technical high schools across the country and has
contributed to the increase in performance and the
number of learners enrolled for technical subjects in
these schools. Over 6 000 learners are benefitting from
this intervention and 40 teachers receive support and
training.
NORTH AMERICA
• Through established partnerships, Sasol employees engage students in programmes that foster mentorship and life
skills development, seeking also to enhance school-based STEM curriculum.
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Sasol’s Partners in Education makes a difference in North America
Sasol is proud to have been involved in its Partners in Education
programme at four schools in the United States— these being
Combre-Fondel Elementary (Lake Charles, Louisiana), Emerson
Elementary (Houston, Texas), Western Heights Elementary (Westlake,
Louisiana) and Westwood Elementary (Westlake, Louisiana).
Through these partnerships, Sasol employees have taken an active
role in engaging students at these schools in programmes that foster
mentorship, as well as life skills development. Sasol’s Partners in
Education programme also seeks to enhance the school-based STEM
curriculum, while enhancing educator professional development
programmes.
Notable examples of these partnerships include the Big Brothers
Big Sisters Lone Star programme and the Chemical Educational
Foundation (CEF).
Since 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star has operated under
the belief that inherent in every child is incredible potential. As the
nation’s largest donor- and volunteer-supported mentoring network,
Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches
Sasol Sustainability Report 2021
between adult volunteers and children, ages 5 through to young
adulthood in communities across the country.
Sasol and Big Brothers Big Sisters are working together to
positively impact the lives of the students in this programme.
With the pandemic persisting, the programme in recent times
has connected matches in a virtual setting. There are currently 20
students taking part in this programme in the greater Houston
area with 20 Sasol volunteers.
Meanwhile, the CEF is well known for helping students at home
and in the classroom explore the field of science. The foundation
supports educators and parents, while it engages with students
on team-based problem-solving concepts.
In partnership with Sasol, CEF provided Houston’s Emerson
Elementary school with four virtual professional development
workshop videos for science teachers (on topics pertaining to
the 5E Learning Model, Weather and Sustainability, Life Sciences,
and Space).