They said this at Dududu Primary School in Nkowankowa, where she met with the assistants to hear firsthand how the program has benefitted them in the past five months.

“Some of us come from child-headed families and the stipend we received really made a difference in our families and also assisted to pay for our study fees.

“Most of us have grown fond of the teaching profession and want to pursue it as a career path.

“We plead with you to grant us bursaries and to extend our contracts,” explained Michelle Mokoena, a general assistant at Ritavi Primary School.

The 300 000 nationwide contracts come to an end at the end of April.

Motshekga said she was happy that the opportunity has made a difference in the lives of the young people and that they are considering becoming teachers.

She said that those who already have teaching qualifications will be given preference when vacancies become available.

She also acknowledged the fact that there is a deep need to have young people entering the field as they bring new energy while being complemented by experienced teachers.

Motshekga had earlier visited two secondary schools in the Tzaneen area, Charles Mathonsi Secondary School and Progress Secondary school as they were the two underperforming schools in the Nkowankowa circuit.

Also read: District honours top performing schools

The newly appointed principal of Charles Mathonsi, Botty Lesele, told the minister that one of the reasons the learners did not perform well was because of ill-discipline.

She mentioned teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, no designated study times and lack of cooperation from the parents.

“Since I have been at the school I have implemented morning and afternoon study sessions at the school, have changed teachers who are underperforming to teach lower grades.

“I have also started a competition to reward the best-performing learners and teachers with a stipend every term, which we got from a donator. I promise that things will turn around,” Lesele said.

Meanwhile at Progress, the minister said the school was not viable with only 230 learners in the whole school.

She recommended that the school be merged with Bankuna High School which used to be a good performing school. Bankuna has 254 learners with nine teachers, while Progress has seven teachers.

The minister encouraged Nkowankowa circuit manager, Doreen Manzini to sit down with the two principals about the merge because the current systems of the schools are unviable.