By Palesa Ndinisa
On the 5th of June 2025, Rectron partnered with Assar Maloka Secondary School, based in Duduza, and donated a computer lab to students. This initiative was built to help overcome technology access in lower income households and communities. The lab forms part of Rectron’s ‘Progressive Educational Upliftment’ (PEU) programme, which was established in 2022 to support technology education in South African youth, empowering their future through digital literacy.
The event was joined by relevant stakeholders like Somikazi Chabalala, who is the District Director of Education for Gauteng East, Kutlwano Rawana, who holds the title of Rectron Chief of People, Spencer Chen, CEO of Rectron and Mr. Sehume, the school’s principal amongst the teachers of the school.
“This computer centre is more than just a room full of high tech gadgets. It’s a hub for students to explore everything; from coding and graphic design to video editing and digital literacy. Whether it’s gaming, programming, robotics or learning to format a Word document, this centre is there for you,” added Mr Sehume. He furthermore shared his gratitude to everyone who helped the project succeed. The ‘Rectron Technolab’ which was officially handed over to the school is equipped with 41 state of the art compact computers, giving students hands-on experience with modern technology.
Mr Sehume, Principal at Assar Moloka Secondary School, has overseen a remarkable improvement in the school’s pass rate, from 84% in 2023 to 94% in 2024.
“One of our company values is improving lives. It’s important for us as Rectron to play a positive role in communities around us. Our Rectron community outreach project called PEU has made significant strides in improving the lives of our youth by enabling technology in schools. We have this far given technology learning to more than 7 000 learners through our techno labs,” expressed Rawana.
As part of the Rectron PEU programme, these investments seek to increase the quality and access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education subjects in more disadvantaged communities around the country.
“This initiative by Rectron is exciting and contributes to the vision of the department. It integrates ICT into the curriculum and empowers young people with the skills of the 21st century. As a department, we’ve installed smart boards for high schools and we wish to do more for these underserved schools. We’ve identified full ICT schools where students have tablets and computer centres and every educator has a laptop. Having this public-private partnership is a bonus because we know we cannot do it alone. With Assar Maloka being one of the top performing township schools in Gauteng East District at 94% pass rate, we believe this lab came at the right time,” added Chabalala.
A grade 9 student from the school, Zamokuhle Lekata, expressed how grateful she is that Rectron has given them a computer lab. “I started robotics in grade 8 and we won last year in a robotics competition. With Rectron on our side, I’m definitely sure that we will get better. I’m happy that they are upgrading our knowledge and they’re making sure that we understand technology since it’s our everyday life,” concluded the happy student.
