Career day helps pupils make the right choice
More than 700 pupils from various rural schools in the area recently visited the Good Work Foundation (GWF) to learn more about career opportunities available to them.
The GWF and Mpumalanga Department of Education partnered to host the grade nine pupils from the Ehlanzani district and invited professionals from various fields to tell the pupils about their chosen field.
These representatives spoke to the pupils about the importance of subject choice related to the career field that they have interest in. “It is also just as important for these youngsters to realise early that if they are struggling with the subjects they have chosen, they should change those subjects mid-year so as to allow them enough time to catch up on their alternative subject choices,” says Enhlanzeni district career guidance coordinator Ms Ruth Mashego.
“These students should realise how critical it is to know what subjects they have to choose for that specific career that they would like to pursue after school. It is also just as important for them to realise that they might have a passion for medicine but if mathematics and physics are subjects in which they struggle to score 40 per cent, then they should make another choice that will not disappoint them later in life,” says GWF career guidance coordinator Mercyful Mathebula.
It was also good for the pupils to hear about the careers from people who have first-hand experience and can advise them on the joys and pitfalls involved in their chosen field.
Pupils from rural schools often choose subjects based on what their friends choose and not on their capability, due to a lack of information.
With the lack of information and support, they live to later regret these decisions, either because they are struggling to pull through high school or they end up struggling when they get to university.
In some cases, students finish off their last year of high school with outstanding results, but have no idea how to access information that would help them further their studies.
This day was intended to highlight how important it is for these grade nines to know what they want and need. The GWF is looking forward to the future doctors, bloggers, teachers and many more other professions from these promising grade nines that now have all the information that they need at their disposal.
