Pupils get career know-how
THE Polokwane mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng said the Mayor's Career Awareness Drive aimed to empower gr. 11 and 12 learners from disadvantaged and rural communities with the necessary information, knowledge and attributes necessary for their future career aspirations.
LIMPOPO – THE Polokwane mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng said the Mayor’s Career Awareness Drive aimed to empower gr. 11 and 12 learners from public schools and unemployed young people from disadvantaged and rural communities with the necessary information, knowledge and attributes necessary for their future career aspirations.
Nkadimeng spoke during the Mayor’s Career Awareness Drive, which was held at the Jack Botes Hall in Polokwane on Friday.
“We are in pursuit of fulfilling our Smart People vision. These are people who are sufficiently skilled and informed to make meaningful contributions to development. The need for sufficiently skilled and intellectually capacitated citizens becomes immediate if we are to realise this vision. After the Polokwane Municipality hosted the drive last year, 1 402 applications were received for the Executive Mayor’s Bursary and this huge response is a spill over from the career awareness programme, while some unemployed young benefited from the FNB learnership programme,” said Nkadimeng.
She said the municipality awarded bursaries worth more than R2 million to qualifying young students in March.
“The money was raised from sponsorships and donations from businesses and other stakeholders who work with us. The office of the mayor continues to champion career awareness to expose learners to career opportunities and funding from institutions. We also have an internship programme where young graduates are recruited and exposed to various working streams in the municipality. As a municipality, we work with the office of the premier and the department of education,” she said.
Nkadimeng said learners often found themselves pursuing studies they did not like as they were not exposed to various career paths in high school.
“By exposing learners to careers that respond to the South African economy, the municipality is contributing to government’s New Growth Path that aims to meet set targets for scarce and key skills, with the emphasis on skills that apply across the economy,” she said.
