Learners in mentorship programme pass with flying colours
Nel, who drove the project together with colleague Bibi Tilly, said it has been an exhilarating 24 months
African Bank celebrates the excellence of 11 learners who were taken under the bank’s wing as part of a mentorship programme.
Hanri Nel of African Bank said all 11 learners had big dreams of securing a university education.
“Today they are celebrating their achievement – all of the girls passed matric with a bachelor’s admission, averaging 70 per cent, and they have all been accepted into university for 2018,” Nel said. “Significantly, Jessica Sehlabelo, one of our girls from Inqayizivele Secondary School, was the top student in Ekurhuleni North, achieving 100 per cent in accounting and physical science.”
Nel, who drove the project together with colleague Bibi Tilly, said it has been an exhilarating 24 months.
“When we first started the programme in 2016, we identified top achievers in the three schools African Bank had selected as part of its mentorship programme. The schools were Umqhele Comprehensive, Ingqayizivele Secondary school and Thuko Ke Maatla Secondary in Tembisa.
“We never dreamt our girls would do so well,” Nel said. “The programme was all about equipping our learners to survive ‘life after Grade 12’. The programme included providing the girls with weekly extra lessons in maths, accounting and science, and this has really paid off. We also needed to provide the girls with laptops, study guides, calculators and stationery. To ensure they were on track we held regular career guidance workshops, which included psychometric testing. This year we also introduced work readiness programmes with external stakeholders and hosted one-on-one mentoring.”
She said the girls had demonstrated that sheer guts, determination and loads of hard work pay off.
African Bank will continue to support the girls this year, helping them with registration fees, bursary applications, groceries, data, toiletries and the like. The bank is also looking into assisting the girls with part-time work over weekends and evenings to give them some career experience, and placing each girl with an African Bank staff member to act as her personal mentor.
“Once again we realise how tough it still is for our girls,” said Nel. “Many of them still have to wait for payment of grants and bursaries and can’t organise their accommodation until then. For the first month or so they need to get to varsity and can’t afford the travelling costs. These are just some of the many hurdles our girls need to overcome.”
Kennedy Dembetembe, who heads up the bank’s national CSI drive, encouraged other organisations to embark on similar projects.
“The high dropout rate amongst first-year university students is alarming, and this has a lot to do with readiness. If corporate SA could get behind more initiatives of this nature, I feel we would definitely see an improvement,” said Dembetembe.
African Bank’s shining stars are:
• Puseletso Thobejane – University of Pretoria
• Mpho Magabe – HC Lawrence Nursing College
• Montsheng Madonsela – Da Vinci Institute
• Lerato Mohlafase – Medunsa
• Sindiswa Khosa – University of Johannesburg
• Phetang Maleka – Tshwane University of Technology
• Tsebo Nchabelang – University of Pretoria
• Kgotlelo Nonyane – University of Johannesburg
• Jessica Sehlabelo – Wits University
• Ellen Mhlongo – University of Johannesburg
• Lisbeth Sehodi – Ann Lasky Nursing College
