Durban - As technology shifts to everyday use, school pupils continue to sharpen their skills.
One of these cyber wizards, Zakiyyah Gangat, 16, a Grade 12 pupil at Northlands Girls’ High School, has been invited to compete against the country’s best cyber geniuses in an olympiad next month.
The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) Computer Applications Technology Olympiad is set to take place in Stellenbosch from July 1 to 4. Zakiyyah said she was filled with joy when she learned she had been selected for the third round. She said she couldn’t stop smiling and that this was a result of her passion for computers.
“Ever since I was young, I have loved working with computers. I have always found it fun and stress-relieving, so choosing Computer Applications Technology (CAT) was the obvious choice for me, and I could not be more pleased. I felt honoured to have been invited. I could hardly believe it and felt extremely proud of myself for this achievement,” Zakiyyah said.
To prepare, she said she would answer practice questions, which the IITPSA would send before the final event.
“This will help me get an idea of what I should expect, and to have the best chance of doing as well as I possibly can.”
Zakiyyah said that in the first two rounds, she was assessed on using a variety of features in Microsoft Word, Excel and Access to answer a set of provided questions.
Northlands head of subject for CAT and teacher in charge of coding and robotics, Tashnee Maharaj, said she was overwhelmed with excitement about one of her pupils excelling.
She said: “Zakiyyah has always shown up prepared and ready to accomplish the daily task. Her work ethic is always excellent no matter the challenges she may face. She puts in a great amount of unseen effort, which reflects well on her academic work. Seeing a pupil succeed is the best thing ever. We have been preparing for this since she was in Grade 10. This is a great accolade and we are all very proud of her.”
The Independent on Saturday