Theme: “Community Outreach on Career Options and Post-School Opportunities for the Youth”
Programme Director, Dr Mkabela
Members of the Royal House
Prince Muntukaphiwana Zulu
Prince Zebulon Zulu
Member of the Executive Council for Education in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Senzo
Mchunu, MPP
Members of the Portfolio Committee on Education and Training
Representative of the District Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality
Senior government officials present here
Representatives from SAQA, the various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), ITHALA and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
Teachers and learners from the Nongoma and Mahlabathini schools
I greet you all!
Introduction
I am honoured to share this day with learners from a special region of our Zulu speaking people. Many of our great leaders come from this area, like our world renowned leader, Prince Buthelezi. Njengoba silapha siphakathi kwemizi yeNdlunkulu kusuka ekhaya elikhulu e Nyokeni. Also, in this region there was a famous school of Abantwana bamakhosi which produced traditional leaders for the whole country.
uPrincess Magogo, umama ka-Prince Buthelezi wayesho ngezwi elivusa umunyu, eliqhaqhazelayo, ehamba kuyo lendawo. Umculi odumile namuhla, uSibongile Mngoma-Khumalo promotes the songs of our princess world-wide. The list of the leadership from this area is endless. You should certainly be proud to be part of such a rich history and heritage.
The immediate question to answer is: what is the significance of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s visit here today. Allow me first to introduce the theme of our Education Indaba, which is; Community Outreach on Career Options and Post-School Opportunities for
the Youth”.
The simple explanation of why are we here is that we have brought the Department of Higher Education and Training to the people, kinina bafundi. We chose to come here because you are learning from schools and families which are facing too many challenges.
For example, while other learners from urban areas run after Ministers and Deputy Ministers daily, in your case, access to the leadership is not a given. Some of you still do not have access to television, internet, social networks. We are here to realise your Right to participate in thinking about your future. We are here to realise your Right to information.
As young people, facing developmental challenges, you also have moral responsibilities. Please be vigilant and stay away from drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol abuse contribute to the high prevalence of teenage pregnancy, HIV and AIDS among the youth. These social ills impact negatively on schooling and the achievement of education outcomes.
I am accompanied by a high level of delegation which have spoken to you about what I call the pillars of our Higher Education and Training. As you have heard from some of them, we have brought together role players in career guidance information and counselling, representatives of strategic SETAS for this area in particular, of FET Colleges and nearby Universities. Above everything, I have mentors, meaning all of us who are today in strategic positions but who come from family circumstances like yours.
The people who are here with me, are your mentors, because they chose to beat poverty and other challenges and they are here today bearing a torch of victory and success. I want all of you to believe deep down in your hearts and in your minds that we can and you will make it. The case in point for you is our own and only President of the country, who overcame all forms of poverty and deprivation.
Today, he represents me and you all over the world, including the United Nations. I am talking about ubaba uMsholozi owakhula elusa izinkomo, eshaywa abafana ekhanda khona lapha KwaZulu-Natal, eNkandla. I am telling you all this, because, we are here to instill positive energy and determination to succeed beyond your expectations.
Our President ubaba uMsholozi, during the State of the Nation Address, this year and last year, pronounced that access to quality education is the top priority for the country. He made a call to teach us to be at school on time every day; to ensure that each and every learner is at school on time and has textbooks and all other needed learning material.
Our parents and grand-parents are fountains of wisdom and have a deeper understanding of the world. Great leaders such as Baba uMadiba (Former President Nelson Mandela), noBaba UMsholozi (President Jacob Zuma), as I have said earlier, were born and raised in rural settings. They benefitted a lot from the generations that came before them. We must therefore be proud of our rural settings and not use education as a passport to escape from rural areas. We must study with the longterm goal of uplifting our rural areas.
Programme Director, allow me to be explicit about our mandate and the goal of our visit:
- Broadly speaking, our mandate is to put young people who are neither at school, nor in any of institutions of higher learning and training nor at work, in what we call the skills pipeline, starting with our post-school learning centres, training as artisans, work place learnerships.
- We are here to prepare you for what you need to do so as not to miss the boat when there is a call for those with critical skills, for urbanising your region, like road construction, revamping hospitals, building bridges, farming, mining and trading in bead work you name it.
- Career guidance is one of the tools we use to prepare you adequately for post-school education.
Our message this morning is that, as learners, you must use this Education Indaba to learn and share valuable information that will shape your career options and paths. I want to be open in terms of saying maths and science are critical subjects ,if you do well in these subjects, they’ll enable you to turn around this region and make them to look like and other city like Pietermaritzburg.
Immediate Actions
To those who are presently doing Grade 9, you will be expected this year to select Subjects for Grades 10, 11 and 12. To those who are doing Grades 10, 11 and 12, you are already preparing for education in the post-school sector; that is in colleges, universities as well as in learnerships under the SETAs.
Being given an opportunity to learn on the job is the best way of preparing you to enter the trade or profession you are interested in. It all begins with you, many people in the past came out of school, with degrees but they could not get jobs.
The SETAs are also here with us! They deal with learnerships. Learnerships refer to all the learning that takes place at places of work. The SETAs are working with employers in improving the skills of our workforce in South Africa. For example, if you choose to work in the forestry industry you will get accredited training from a SETA dealing with the forestry sector. The same applies to those who choose the health professions; they will then receive training under the SETA dealing with health practitioners.
A solid foundation of career guidance and information service should be laid as early as in Grade 9. Educators in the Foundation and Intermediate phases are also crucial as they inculcate literacy, numeracy and life skills on the part of learners.
These skills are important as learners move forward in the education system. As teachers, we must always remember that, a well –informed learner does not face many barriers in the selection of careers. Information is power as it leads learners to wiser decisions. A learner who knows what he/she wants is likely to work harder and get good results than a learner who is dragging his/ her feet, hoping to get anywhere in life.
Our department, together with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), is running career guidance information dissemination radio programmes. These radio programmes, known as KHETHA are broadcast every week from the beginning of the year. The local uKhozi fm and other SABC regional radio stations feature the KHETHA programmes.
You can get assistance wherever you are. The SAQA number is 086 0111 673, SMS 072 204 5056. There are always people who are ready to assist you. You can also get career guidance information from Facebook page of KHETHA. In that way, you will also show us as parents that Facebook can be used in a productive way, to gain knowledge for the future!
Career Pathways
We must also learn more about career pathways. Nowadays, if you leave the university or college with a Science degree or diploma, you can still follow many paths. You can further your studies by following qualifications in fields such as road construction, water purification and agricultural engineering. This also demands that we must be active agents of change and not remain passive in the midst of rapid developments of the 21st century.
Application for admission in Institutions of Higher learning
There are two challenges that learners who want to enter into our institutions of higher education face, namely: applying on time and getting good grades. I need to add the third one, which is to say, knowing what you want, as some of the people who stand in long queues are learners who apply late, who do not know what they want to do or who just did not apply.
1. Applying on Time
We must always remember that institutions of higher education and training receive many applications! Did you know, out of 10 applicants in this crowd applying for university entrance there are 15 others studying elsewhere who are applying for the same space? Colleges and universities start receiving applications from June to July every year for the next academic year. This requires vigilance and passion for your studies.
That is why we encourage you to start working hard as early as from the beginning of the year, so as to avoid disappointments. Also, you must read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch educational television programmes because the media is an important source of information for careers, post-school opportunities and bursaries. Closing dates for applications are splashed all over, this also include Open University days.
If you want to know more about your favourite career, career paths, or you have not yet chosen a career, you are still undecided on your future career; this is your Education Indaba! I trust that some of you have already spoken to officials who are manning the exhibition stands. I want to see you leaving this Education Indaba with career guidance information and knowledge on various post-school opportunities and how to access them!
Honourable permanent first secretary, from our MEC, umhlonishwa unqonqoshe Senzo Mchunu and public representatives present here, our wish as a department is to see teachers, parents, learners and community-based organisations working together in the area of career guidance information dissemination. It takes a village to educate a child.
We have 23 universities in South Africa. These universities can absorb around 170 000 students per year. Again we have 50 FET Colleges that can absorb around 300 000 students. This means our learners must constantly work very hard in order to gain access to a competitive post-school sector!
2. Admission Criteria
As I have said learners must work from the beginning of the year in order to get excellent mid-year results. Universities use a set of criteria for admissions and you need to hard to be the one who gets in. Links between career guidance and skills development in his State of the Nation Address tabled in Parliament on 9 February 2012, the President of the Republic, Mr Jacob Zuma, placed great emphasis on the role of FET Colleges in education and training.
The President stated in the State of the Nation Address;
Siyajabula ukubona ukuthi liyanda inani lentsha efunda amakhono kulamakolishi abizwa phecelezi ngama-Further Education and Training Colleges. Siyaninxusa bazali ukuthi nigqugquzele izingane zifunde kulamakolishi. Akufanele zicabange ukuthi imisebenzi ifundelwa emanyuvesi kuphela. Siyawadinga amakhono atholokala kulamakolishi.
[English version] We are happy to note that the number of young people registering for vocational education in FET Colleges is increasing. We urge parents to encourage young people to register in FET Colleges. They must not think they can only study at universities in order to get decent jobs. We need the mid-level technical skills that are acquired in FET Colleges. The president has made a commitment to visit one of the colleges of further education and training.
The President also announced that 14 000 learners were registered for learnerships in the workplace and 11 000 students passed their trade examinations. Attainment of Critical Skills I am confident that with a concerted effort aimed at promoting career guidance information dissemination and counselling we will increase the number of artisans in our country.
Qualified artisans from our FET Colleges will be central to the national projects that will focus on roads, mining and the upgrading of ports in the country. These national projects, as stated in the State of the Nation Address, will tackle the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality in our society.
Young people must realise that entering the world of work, marks the beginning of a long journey of lifelong learning. Learning in the workplace contributes to personal development as well as to the development of the organisation you are working for.
I am challenging all of you today to strive for excellence and use the information you have received today to prepare for a better South Africa and better world.
Critical Role of the Humanities and Social Sciences African languages are important to all of us as they are vehicles of our customs and values. As a department, we support the development of African languages in our universities. Our considered opinion is that the Social Sciences in South African universities must not exclude the African experience. We therefore need qualified languages, arts & culture and social sciences teachers who can effectively teach our learners.
In the workplaces, you will have to interact with people from diverse cultures and you will be required to be proficient in African languages. Did you know that the greatest thinkers and leaders in the history of this county were also authors? Did you know that great authors such as Dr John Langalibalele Dube, W.B. Vilakazi, R.R.R. and H.I.E. Dhlomo were all from kwaZulu-Natal? Today, all these writers are known by the entire world. It is my fervent wish that this gathering of young people produce future scientists, writers, musicians, sculptors and dramatists in order to enrich our cultural industries.
Conclusion
We are working hard as Government to make sure that in the near future, you will be able to connect through Information Communication Technology (ICT), like learners in urban areas. This will give you access to knowledge and education related information on cell phones and laptops.
State Information Technology Agency
The SITA it is to pursue the connection of more Government service centres in fastest growing rural areas mainly anchored by:
- School connectivity as per the joint project with Department of Basic Education, Department of Communication, Telkom and Sentech.
- Clinic and hospital connectivity to support the improvement of access to health care services through mobile/ electronic health services.
- Home Affairs connectivity – to support the drive to register all South Africans in the National Population Register thereby contributing to national security and improve population information for national/ government planning purposes.
- SASSA connectivity to support accessibility of social support grants.
- Municipal connectivity to support the strengthening of municipalities as service arms of government (government at the coal-face of the communities) for improved service delivery to the community.
We are modernising access to information for education and also service delivery which will improve your quality of life and create a conducive learning environment. This Education Indaba must not be viewed as an event but the beginning of a long process that will strengthen career guidance in all parts of the education system in KwaZulu-Natal. We are in a campaign to fight all forms of social exclusion that contribute to poverty, unemployment and inequality!
I sincerely hope that the Honourable MEC for Education in KwaZulu-Natal will lead a campaign that will ensure that all schools in this province pay sufficient attention to career guidance. There is a need to monitor and evaluate the teaching and learning of career guidance under the Life Orientation Subject. This Education Indaba should be supported by all other government departments, state entities, mayors and councils as well as community –based organisations as it is in line with the national development goals of the country.
Sinishiya nethemba, nikhumbule njalo ukuthi uHulumeni is opening the doors of learning to the poor on a daily basis, by making sure that, learners are transported to school, are fed nutritional food and they are given quality education and support. Okwenu ukuzinikela, ukuzimisela ningadlali ngamathuba akhona.
Siyabonga
