The Department of Public Works has invested just under R5 million rand in bursaries awarded to 40 grade 12 learners of 2014, who will pursue built environment careers including Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Property Valuation, Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Town Planning.
Of the 40 bursary recipients, 31 of them come from schools participating in the Department of Public Works schools programme that seeks to encourage learners to take careers in the built industry. In an attempt to address built environment skills shortages, Public Works adopted the Council for the Built Environment’s (CBE) Skills Pipeline Strategy. The strategy spells out three inter-linked intervention areas aimed at ensuring a seamless flow of professionals into the Department, including the Push Strategy – which aims to provide enough competent and skilled professionals in the built environment through supported and funded secondary and tertiary education programmes. The schools programme is an integral part of that programme and in 2013 the DPW initiated the Schools Programme by adopting (15) schools from Mthatha, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Polokwane, Mmabatho and Kimberly Regional Offices.
The bursaries are partly funded by the R50million discretionary grant from the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA), aimed at supporting the implementation of all capacity building programmes in the department including Internships, Candidacy Programme, Artisan Development Programme and Schools Programme. Part of the grant was used in 2014 to award bursaries to 50 grade 12 learners in the Schools Programme. 83 more bursaries were awarded to students in their second, third and final year studies. 11 bursaries were awarded to Further Education and Training College students with the aim of contributing to the acceleration of registered artisans.
The CETA allocation for the bursaries, for learners participating in the schools programme is R60 000 per learner per annum. The Department of Public Works added another R60 000 to make the total value of the bursary R120 000. The bursary will cover tuition, residential fees, meals, textbooks, academic projects and a monthly allowance.
Enquiries: Thami Mchunu
Cell: 079 519 6997
Tel: 012 406 1841
