Al-Qalam 
Source: Eskom Expo for Young Scientists
By Azra Hoosen
Young Muslim students across the country dazzled judges at the regional finals of the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, taking home medals, prizes and special awards for their superlative science innovations this month.
The Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, which is the biggest science fair in Africa, took place physically in 35 different regions across South Africa for the first time this year since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Expo directors were pleased to provide a platform for young scientists to share their innovative ideas once again. “Children need to be exposed to, and participate in meaningful activities that channel their curiosity and inspire them to investigate the world around them,” said Northern KZN regional director, Manuel Govender.
The Expo brings together students of all backgrounds to showcase their talent and skills – it also aims to cultivate an interest in science from a school-level amongst the youth.
This year’s science fair saw a variety of impressive projects that could possibly provide solutions to tackle challenges that South Africans face daily. Some of the best innovations and development projects looked into combating pollution through thermal insulation; hydroelectric traffic lights; creating money from waste; energy cooling chambers; soil power; electrolysis; treating e-coli contaminated water; harvesting rainwater; decreasing fuel prices and more.
KZN Regions
More than a 100 learners displayed their projects at the Northern KZN regional finals, but two Grade 12 students from Lincoln Heights School, Neha Goli and Raeesha Hassiem, astonished the judges, taking home the special award for ‘best innovation’ for their ‘Recycled plastic waste to bio-fuel’ project, which involved burning recycled plastic to produce bio-fuel that could be used to empower the economy by decreasing fuel prices.
Forty schools participated in the KZN Central Region Expo and many students excelled. Yusuf Mansoor, from Orient Islamic Primary School, attained a gold medal and the Eskom special award for ‘best in the category’.
Maryam Bassa, from Al-Falaah College, triumphed with her project, titled Aero-electricity – “A final thrust towards a wind powered world”.
“Participating in the Expo was an amazing experience. My project entailed the designing of a turbine system, which I made conducive for runway use, to generate electricity from the jet blasts of aeroplanes in the hope of solving the load shedding crisis in our country. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my parents, teachers and peers,” she said.
Maryam earned a gold medal and won a prize from the Africa Research Health Institute (ARHI) for the ‘best project’ in the category. “Alhamdulillah, I am grateful to Allah for granting me the opportunity to design something that may be of benefit to my community in future,” she added.
St Dominics students made the Newcastle Muslim community proud, as Raeesa Paruk, took home a silver medal and won the Eskom special award for ‘Best Plant science’, Husna Docrat won the award for ‘Most recommended’ and Hamza Ismail procured a silver medal for his project as well.
Gauteng south region
Learners from Nizamiye School Mayfair certainly came to win as they took home the most gold medals. The Eskom special award for the ‘best innovation’ winners were Aisha Mbwana and Liat Sewankambo, and the special award for the ‘best project by female learner’s’ winners were Rabia Zeyneb and Nadia Dissaa.
North West
In the Bojanala region, learners from Zinniaville Secondary School did exceptionally well as three promising young students, Zuhayra Ebrahim, Zakiya Abba and Zainad Abed won the Eskom Special Awards for their projects.
Farhana Aziz, from Kismet Combined School, attained an Eskom special award for her project.
The regional winners, who advanced to the International Science Fair (ISF), will compete against the best performing young scientists around the country, which will take place virtually later this year. At this prestigious event, learners will have the opportunity to win prizes, bursaries and scholarships and they could be selected to showcase their research or innovations in an International science fair in the United States of America, Asia, Europe and the rest of Africa.
Community leaders say the successful innovations and development of beneficial projects by young Muslim pupils was a proud moment for the South African Muslim community.
