Career guidance for rural youth

Engineer, doctor, teacher? … Matric learners attended a career expo in the Xhariep District last week.

Learners in rural parts of the Free State will receive career guidance equivalent to that of the former model C schools.

A learner at Lere La Thuto High School in Zastron, Babalwa Meseme, is one of the learners who will be receiving this service. She wants to become a social worker but can only access information on the career in the library in her hometown.
“There are a limited numbers of books on that subject and we cannot get information elsewhere.”

Meseme said the information she receives is often provided by her school which organises representatives from universities to come and speak to them.

According to her, there is no place to obtain information about bursaries except at the labour centre situated in the Mohokare Municipality.

Meseme was one of 835 matrics within Xhariep who attended a career guidance exhibition organised by the Department of the Premier last week.

The expo provided them with information on job opportunities. Due to the lack of information dissemination in rural communities, matrics do not have access to career guidance information, which is beneficial to their academic future.

With the information provided by government, Meseme said she received clarity on the university where she plans to study and what percentage pass rate she needs to get into the institution.
The premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule, said career guidance has been neglected in black schools for many years.

Guidance for learners … Premier Ace Magashule addressed a group of matrics during a rural career guidance exhibition campaign in Trompsburg.


“In 1953, black people were forced by Dr. Verwoerd to do Bantu Education and we were not allowed to do mathematics and science. That is why you will find the majority of the people doing maths and science are white people. They were taught about career guidance while they were still young.”

Magashule added that white learners were told which subjects they should take if they wanted to succeed in life from 1967, and career guidance was made compulsory in white schools in 1980.

“However, career guidance was introduced minimally in black schools in 1981 and this has resulted in many learners leaving school without knowledge of employment opportunities.

“Even if children in township schools do maths and science, they still do not have the laboratories and equipment to do those subjects.”

According to Magashule, career guidance is particularly important in rural areas where information and opportunities are limited.

“Our database of unemployed graduates states that many unemployed youth without degrees and diplomas in the province are from the Xhariep District.”

The premier said the provincial government would be taking 100 youths who performed well in maths and science to Cuba to train them to become doctors.
Of that amount, 34 learners are expected to come from Xhariep.

“Each town in Xhariep must give us at least two learners who did maths and science to become doctors. When they return they will work as doctors in their hometowns.”

He said government will also spend R300-million on bursaries this financial year.

“We want more engineers, we want more chartered accountants, we want doctors, and social workers and people who specialise in maths and science.”

The Chief Director of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), Dick Vuma, said a pilot project was launched in 2009 to distribute information to rural communities.

“The guidance campaign aims to expose youth to various economic sectors and introduce skills facilitation programmes.”

Vuma added that government has prioritised job creation in all sectors of the economy, particularly in rural communities.

“President Jacob Zuma launched the pilot project in Limpopo in 2009. This development aims to ensure the competence level of public servants through capacity development such as internships, learnerships, and skills programmes to ensure productive and contributing employees.”

Vuma said the department created 12 outputs for skills capacity building that focus primarily on youth, young graduates, and school leavers.
“DPSA has a target of 250 000 which we plan to achieve this year.”

Nomsa Gumbi from the Department of Higher Education (DHE) said there are 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities that have a function to equip young people in rural communities with skills.

Gumbi added that the department wants to encourage young people in rural areas to enrol in Further Education and Training (FET) colleges.

“Our responsibility is to provide programmes which respond to the skills of the labour market.”

The department has eight national skills accord commitments which include the youth using FET colleges to gain training and development, encouraging Eskom and Telkom to provide internships and learnerships to young people, and warning young people of the dangers of fly-by-night training companies.