Interview with Alex Lutz – Creator of Milani Education
Milani Education will be part of our Gen Z Immersion Experience. It is a learning tool which utilises learning material from the best schools in the country, refines them and filters them into the correct sections and gives students anywhere in South Africa access to this amazing quality of education. We took some time out to get to know the creator of this learning tool.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.
AL: My name is Alexandra Lutz and I am the founder of Milani Education. I am 17 years old. I’m in matric at St John’s DSG in Pietermaritzburg.
How did you start Milani Education?
AL: I was in Grade 9 at the time and I was doing research on integrating technology into the schooling system more. I just found that there is such a big gap between what the rest of the world is doing technologically and what schools and the education system are doing locally. Then we hit lockdown and everything was shut down and moved seamlessly online in my school. We didn’t skip a beat. We didn’t miss a single day of school. For me that just showed me how massive the inequality in our education system is because there was maybe 1% of schools that had these amazing resources, beautiful videos, lessons constructed all wonderfully online whereas the majority of students who were already struggling with education were now so much more behind, purely because, they didn’t have any access to free online resources. I came to the conclusion that if 30 people could learn off a video, why can we not make it readily available to 30,000? Why do we gatekeep education? It doesn’t make sense.
If you were to speak to business leaders and parents, what would your message be?
AL: It’s so easy to make a change if you actually put your mind to it and carry through with it. As a young person, a lot of people think “I am young, what am I going to do? It’s like an adult type of thing to do” . I think it’s so vital that we, from a young age, are encouraged to take the step and that we are backed by our parents and adults – we are taken seriously so that we can start creating changes. We’ve been left to cater for the future. I think there needs to be a lot more emphasis on giving us the space to do things like this – for the youth by the youth. If we can solve education, we can solve a lot of issues that we face everyday.
What assumptions about your generation would you like to correct?
AL: We are often seen as quite a sensitive generation that’s been given everything but I think there’s a lot more to it. We are really good collaborators. Students that I’ve met honestly just want to do great things in the world. People that are so easily inspired and have so much to them. It’s important that future generations give us the space to make a difference and to create the change that we want. To speak out and do things.
If you were to give the older generations advice, what would that be?
AL: Believe in the future. There’s a lot of pessimism we are surrounded by 24/7 but being pessimistic isn’t going to solve issues. I think it’s important that we actively find solutions and if there are no solutions available, we make them.
By Faeeza Khan
Flux Trends is proud to announce the launch of the Flux Innovation Tour 2023: Meet the Solution-Based, Future Innovators Defining the New World Order.
Join us for this unique full-day tour that is designed to simultaneously shift your thinking and challenge your perceptions of the innovation process by – literally – introducing delegates to the future. Specifically, by introducing you to the young innovators, creatives and entrepreneurs building the future of South Africa, Africa, and the world.
CPD Points and level: 5 CPD POINTS at MPSA Level Designated Members
AMSA Designated Members can attend the Gen Z Immersion Experience and claim these CPD points as well.
Category: Non-Marketing and Marketing
CPD Approval Number: MA FT 23003
Certificate of completion to be loaded onto MarkEdonline to claim CPD points.
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Image credit: Igor Starkov
