Computer Olympiad

The CSSA Computer Olympaid is one of the oldest and biggest competitions of its kind in the world and has been held since 1983. The format of the Olympiad was adapted in 1987 and again in 2003. Some schools have very few computers and many schools have no computers at all. To enable participation from these schools, the current format makes it possible for participants to do the First Round without computers. We know that participation will encourage some young people who would not have done so otherwise, to consider a career in Information Technology.

Eskom Expo for Young Scientists

Eskom Expo for Young Scientists is an exposition, or science fair, where learners have a chance to show others their projects about their own scientific investigations.

MINQUIZ

Minquiz is an annual national Science competition for Grade 12 learners, and has been running since 1988. The competition aims to encourage interest in careers in science, engineering and technology, especially in minerals and metallurgy, and to promote an awareness of the importance of minerals and metallurgy to South Africa. Minquiz is entertaining for the learners participating, the accompanying educators and the audience, while at the same time the competition conveys the importance of Mathematics and Science as foundational subjects to a career in the minerals and metallurgy industries.

Junior Science Olympiad

The Junior Science Olympiad (JSO) is a national science competition for learners not older than 15years. The test requires knowledge about physic, chemistry and biology.

SAASTA Science Olympiad

SAASTA's National Science Olympiad is a project that was started in 1964, initially for grade 12 learners with the objective of promoting Physical Science. Now in its 45th year, the competition continues to be one of SAASTA's flagship projects. Since 2005, the project offers learners in grades 10-12 an exciting opportunity to compete in the science arena with fellow learners from across all the nine provinces and SADC countries such as Namibia and Lesotho.

Technology Olympiad

The SAIMechE Technology Olympiad is a National Programme, which aims to bring technology awareness to as may young people as possible, The programme requires learners to use engineering pronciples to build a working model that solves the problem posed by the challenge.

Thinkquest

ThinkQuest inspires students to think, connect, create, and share. Students work in teams to build innovative and educational websites to share with the world. Along the way, they learn research, writing, teamwork, and technology skills and compete for exciting prizes.

The following organisations are not part of FESTOC, but are worth a (virtual) visit.

South African Maths Olympiad

SAMF is an initiative of AMESA (the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa) and SAMS the South African Mathematical Society) and its activities include teacher and learner programmes, publication of teacher and learner support materials, popularisation of mathematics and promoting public interest in mathematics research in South Africa.

Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa

The Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA) is an initiative aimed at increasing the pipeline Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Innovation (STEMI). YESA interventions operate from Grades 0-12 and are designed to supplement the national curriculum in a stimulating and challenging environment to promote creativity and innovation. All interventions are aimed at addressing the gaps in the developmental stages of providing support to learners through a broad range of activities.

Algorithm Circle (Python learners)

Project Umonya aims to promote CS and programming to South African learners. The student organised initiative teaches CS in a fun and exciting way without getting stuck into the boring/gory bits. The basics of programming with Python (A fun an easy to use language) are taught in an action packed weekend course. The fast pace requires that students are focussed and willing to put in extra time after the course.