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In light of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and lockdown, Eskom Expo for Young Scientists is making various adjustments to ensure that support is offered to learners, teachers and volunteers.

While celebrating its 40th anniversary and creating a platform for future scientists and engineers across South Africa, Eskom Expo found itself in a challenging situation when President Cyril Ramaphosa implemented the nation-wide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This has resulted in Eskom Expo being proactive and making available many online resources, including availing Eskom Expo staff and volunteers to assist learners and teachers across the country.

Eskom Expo for Young Scientists Executive Director, Parthy Chetty said: “We will be running online training sessions for teachers and learners by region and province, helping Eskom Expo participants get started with some parts of their projects that do not require them to leave their homes. Participants will soon be in a position to select their topics, categories and sub-categories to write-up their research plans.”

Chetty added that learners can refer to the Eskom Expo website, www.exposcience.co.za, for all the online resources, starting with the project guide book to learn about the rules of Eskom Expo. Also available will be research plan templates, project report information, a referencing guide and information on how to plan a survey and many more.

“This can also be easily accessed via a cell phone, by switching to the mobile platform. We hope learners use this lockdown period to good advantage, by being productive and getting started on their Eskom Expo projects,” said Chetty.

Eskom Expo hosts regional expos in 35 Eskom Expo regions around South Africa, which culminates in the Eskom Expo International Science Fair (ISF), where about 500 of the country’s top young scientists compete to win cash prizes, bursaries, apprenticeships to study abroad, tours to international science fairs and upgrade science labs for their schools. All the regional expos and our ISF will continue as scheduled for now.

Eskom General Manager for Risk and Sustainability and Acting General Manager for Corporate Affairs Andrew Etzinger, said “while it was unfortunate that planned workshops, science camps and activities to assist the country’s learners with their scientific investigations have been cancelled, the available online resources are of great assistance.

Eskom Expo is Eskom’s corporate social investment flagship initiative and a great launch-pad for motivated young scientists who are keen to explore various fields in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and innovation. Skills acquired by participating in Eskom Expo enable learners to change their circumstances and contribute solutions to challenges in their local environments. During this lockdown period, we urge parents and guardians to become actively involved and help learners to start scientific investigations at home, in a bid to bring about sustainable developments in our country,” said Etzinger.

Issued by Eskom