In developing nations, rural communities lag behind urban centers in a number of key areas of development and especially in education. Far from aid, schools and commerce, young members of rural communities face extraordinary challenges in finding a future in the modern world.

Kusile Labs & Technology (KLT) is addressing the challenges of rural life by bringing high quality science education to small communities across South Africa. KLT has developed an innovative strategy to fill the critical gaps in rural education by bringing state-of-the-art science education to the people’s doorstep.

Soon, students will have the chance to work in a battery-powered mobile laboratory that will provide instruction and develop a practical understanding of material that would otherwise remain theoretical. Additionally, KLT’s founders hope the new labs will keep teaching talent in rural areas.

In an interview with HumanIPO, KLT director, Nkosi Maseko said, “The rural communities have a backlog of science teachers who flock to urban areas where there are better teaching resources . . . hence the poor results and stagnation in the community’s’ development.”

This ultimately speaks to the projects main intent, which is to develop rural community, gain food security and combat poverty through the statistically proven power of quality education.

For instance, the Global Partnership for Education claims that, “If all students in low income countries left school with basic reading skills 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty. This is equal to a 12 percent cut in global poverty.”

Education, especially in science, technology, education and mathematics, has been proven to not only combat poverty, but to promote healthier and richer communities that are able to contend with the challenges of development.

In this way, KLT hopes to transform the rural communities of South Africa into viable and sustainable communities that do not suffer because of their distance from urban areas.

KLT’s mobile lab has not yet been given a home, but Maseko is hopeful that 600 mobile labs will find one in 2014.

– Chase Colton

Sources: Human IPO, Global Partnership for Education, KLT
Photo: University of Regina