Programme Director and Campus Liaison Manager, Dr Dan Thokoane
Professor Engelbrecht, Acting Vice Chancellor and Principal
The CEO of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)
Ms Hilda Kekana, Director of the Tshwane South District
Representatives of the National Students Financial Aid Scheme
Representative of the Engineering Council of South Africa
Government Officials
Learners
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great honour for me to address you this morning at this special event jointly organised by the Department of Higher Education and Training and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) on career exhibition and the “Apply Now” Campaign. We would like to extend our appreciation to University of Pretoria for hosting us and for providing us space to interact with you, learners, so that we can highlight the importance of applying early to the institutions of higher learning of your choice.
To provide you with some background, the “Apply Now” campaign is an initiative of the Department of Higher Education and Training, in collaboration with SAQA. The campaign seeks to encourage you, learners, to apply for admission to post-schooling institutions of your choice early, so that you can avoid disappointments, which usually accompany late applications. We aim to reduce the long queues and some of the chaos that generally takes place at most of our universities at the beginning of each year.
Programme Director
With this campaign, we aim to reach out to every Grade 9 to 12 learners in all the 6000 public high schools in the country. What triggered this campaign is our realisation as government that not all learners in our schools receive proper Career Guidance at school and thereby miss all opportunities available to them. It is important for you to know before you leave school what study options are available for you so that you can make correct career decisions.
The message is clear: learners should choose their career paths early so that the kind of subjects you choose leads you to your desired careers. In this case, we encourage you to talk to your teachers and to your Guidance or Life Orientation Teachers, so that you get the right advice. We have also invited experienced persons and organisations who will give you advice on how you should choose your desired careers. Therefore, we urge all of you to visit the exhibition stalls and get as much information as possible, which I trust will be to your own benefit.
Programme Director
I have no doubt that the impact of The “Apply Now” and Khetha campaign, which is led by SAQA, aimed at creating awareness of career options and application procedures to be followed for Post-School Education and Training is hugely felt. This campaign complements the current Khetha radio programmes – which runs on 10 SABC African languages radio stations, including Afrikaans.
We commend the work of SAQA, who are our main partner in this campaign but we also appreciate the contribution of the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) who are all here with us today. It is imperative to mention today that we are as well forging a sound working relationship with our FET colleges, our SETAs and the private sector to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are properly mobilised to secure the future of our learners.
Programme Director
In order to reach as many students as possible in the campaign, the department is not only focusing on face-to-face contact, but we are also utilising wisely the media and social network platforms to distribute all “Apply Now” campaign messages through M-xit and Facebook.
It may well be true, Programme Director, that not all our young people have access to social media, especially those in the marginalised and rural areas and it is for this reason that the department has a further dedicated programme to engage intensively with this sector of young people. To this day, we have already visited a total of 7 provinces and the plan is to visit the last two provinces in the coming weeks.
We are also distributing the “Apply Now” booklets which covers the following aspects:
- Career choice/ options
- Opportunities for learning at FET Colleges
- Opportunities for learning at Universities and Universities of Technology
- Funding
- SETAs, Learnerships and Apprenticeships
- Public Service Training Opportunities
- Scarce Skills
- Entrepreneurship
- Community Service/Volunteer Opportunities
Fellow learners, the exhibitions here this morning are part of this wider outreach programme and I would like to encourage you to take advantage of this event so that you can make informed decisions about the institutions you want to study at, and the type of study programmes you may want to pursue.
To those of you who have already applied to institutions of higher learning and have been accepted or offered a place, I would urge you to keep on working hard to ensure that you get positive matric results to enable you to gain access to these institutions.
Programme Director
It is not all of us who will gain access to universities due to a variety of capacity constraints. But we do encourage you to choose FET colleges as another viable option you may pursue. As you are aware that government has committed itself to create a comprehensive and differentiated post school system that is able to take care of the diverse needs of our people. The aim is to expand education opportunities for all South Africans, particularly the youth. It is against this background that we have invested huge amounts of money into the FET sector.
The financially needy, academically deserving students are not required to pay tuition fees at these institutions. This is in line with the government commitment to gradually introduce free education for the poor in our higher education system. We are also working on developing appropriate articulation systems between our various types of post school institutions to ensure that students are able to move easily across the system.
Programme Director,
Our government has committed to do so much, but you also need to play your part and meet us half-way. You have to demonstrate the desire and commitment to study, and to do well in your studies. I hope you will make use of these opportunities and secure a future for yourselves, your families and your country. Ask as many questions as possible so that when you leave here today, you are empowered to make the right decision, and confidently face your future. As they say, the sky is the limit, and let no one limit what you can do with your life.
I wish you all the best,
Thank you very much.
Enquiries:
Kagisho Mamabolo
Tel: 012 312 6339 or 021 465 5513
Cell: 071 304 8103 or 073 538 9618
