Buffalo City Metro’s George Randell High is one of the few schools in the Eastern Cape taking the lead in offering pupils the opportunity to explore maritime studies and develop their talents in this field.
Since 2016, the school has offered maritime economics and nautical sciences, and in 2024 it will be introducing marine science to its curriculum.
And some of the school’s former pupils are already pursuing maritime studies at university, one of the achievements the school is proud of.
Miranda Giyose, an economics maritime teacher, said the programme had been rolled out for the past six years.
She said the school could be considered a “maritime school” because of the two maritime subjects it offered pupils from grades 10 and up and because the school was based near the sea.
These subjects has been approved by the department of education.
“Pupils [who take these subjects] perform well every year. We have a 100% average pass rate in maritime economics, and in nautical science we have around an 80% pass rate,” she said.
Giyose said having the pupils start maritime studies while at high school made it a lot easier for those who continued at university.
“We find that some students [taking up maritime studies] were dropping out or experiencing difficulty with the subjects, but now that they get the subjects at school, it is easier for them to understand the language at varsity,” she said.
According to the Maritime Studies SA website: “Maritime economics prepares students for careers in the maritime industry ashore and deals with maritime geography, port studies, maritime trade patterns, the structure of the local shipping industry, various aspects of ship operation and chartering, the bunker trade, ships’ agency procedures, ship-broking, cargo clearing and maritime ecology.”
Nautical science on the other hand “prepares students for a career at sea and covers seamanship, coastal and ocean navigation (including astro-navigation), maritime communications, weather systems at sea, electronic aids to navigation, international regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea and basic ships stability, among other things”.
Giyose said: “For pupils to have a greater understanding, they can do port visits and see the things they have been learning about in the classroom.
“If they do the practical aspects of these courses, it makes sense to them when we use the maritime language.
“We have three learners who are qualified divers,” she said.
Sivuyile Mpiyane, who is responsible for teaching nautical sciences, said educating pupils about the subject was a privilege.
He said even though there were hurdles, the excitement of the pupils motivated them to continue.
It is quite difficult for the pupils to grasp the knowledge but the excitement from them is quite interesting
“It is quite difficult for the pupils to grasp the knowledge but the excitement from them is quite interesting.”
He said he was introduced to maritime studies when he was in grade 11 at Simon’s Town High School in the Western Cape.
He furthered his qualification in this field.
Mpiyane said they had seen their pupils succeed.
“The performance is quite good but they do need a lot of practical experience which involves visiting the harbour.
“I think generally most pupils struggle with maths and physics, which is the same case with them.”
He said the school was excited to be raising maritime awareness.
“I am very passionate when it comes to maritime awareness, the school is also proud of former pupils who are pursuing engineering or are navigators in maritime.
“We are pushing very hard to have more pupils study these subjects.”
George Randell High life orientation teacher Brandon Oelofsa, who will be teaching the pupils marine science in 2024, said he was looking forward to it.
"One of my majors while at university was marine conservation and ecology," he said, adding that he is one of the few teachers qualified to teach the subject.
Oelofsa said the subject would give their pupils a glimpse of how the ocean works.
“It is more theoretical based, has scientific knowledge on how the ocean works, the interrelations between organisms and the oceans.
“We will also have a practical component that I hope to bring in.”
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