The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr. Mduduzi Manana, MP, spent a full day with the community of Meloding Township, at the Majhabeng Local Municipality, to engage with the unemployed youth and the community at large on Post-School Education and Training (PSET) opportunities.

The Deputy Minister and his entourage converged at Meloding Taxi Rank at 07h30. By the end of the programme, at least 100 households were visited; whereas other queries were raised by youth who were passers-by and standing in street corners. In all, over a thousand enquiries pertaining to higher education and skills development matters were lodged. The community members, from young to old, welcomed the initiative with open arms.

The majority of youth in Meloding are facing challenges that are most prevalent in most rural and small towns in South Africa such as drug, alcohol and substance abuse, gender based violence, crime, unemployment and inequality, HIV/AIDS, etc. Due to these social ills, the majority of the youth are forced to migrate to nearby bigger cities like Welkom, Kroonstad and Bloemfontein.

It was most gratifying to learn of many other success stories that were shared by some of the youth. Lebogang Sekobolo is currently studying at the Central University of Technology for a degree in Internal Auditing. She said, 'in 2014 For my first year I was supported by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for a study loan, this gave me a great start in my journey to campus life as this is something that I never thought I would achieve in my lifetime as my family is faced with high levels of poverty. I did not mind getting the loan that I would be ready to repay when I get employed. During my second year, my NSFAS was converted to a full bursary, meaning I am now studying for free with no repayments expected. This is all thanks to our big uncle NSFAS, NSF and the Department of Higher Education.

Today, I had an opportunity to interact with Deputy Minister Manana at my humble family house. I shared to him my experiences with the fund and applauded him for having taken this initiative to my community as many youth have lost hope. I have pleaded with the Deputy Minister to speak with the Auditor General to consider me for an internship programme in 2017'.

This is the inaugural Higher Education Door-to-Door programme that is led by Deputy Minister Manana. The programme will be rolled out monthly, nationally from January 2017.

 

Issued by GCIS on behalf of the Ministry of Higher Education and Training