By Staff Reporter
news@alexreporter.co.za
The Department of Education in partnership with Junior Achievement South Africa and The Banking Association of South Africa as part of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), will upskill 1 000 teacher assistants across all nine provinces.
During March 2023 over 400 teacher assistants were trained in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga.
The partnership is aimed at upskilling young people recruited through the PYEI to become self-sufficient beyond their current employment in the Basic Education Sector and address the high unemployment rate in the country by proactively resourcing an understaffed field.
Since December 2020, approximately 850 000 teacher assistants have benefited from the PYEI programme and are ready to take their careers to the next level.
“The programmes offered by Junior Achievement South Africa are aligned with the government’s goal to empower youth with the skillset to build thriving communities,” says Waheeda Carvello from the Department of Education’s Entrepreneurship, Employability and Education Programme.
The three-day power boot-camps rolled out across the country focus on Financial Literacy, Mental Wellness and Entrepreneurship – supported by the Z Zurich Foundation.
Programme participants work in teams and come up with solutions that factor in climate change.
On the last day, teams present their social equity idea to a panel of judges.
The winning team proceeds to compete against teams from Uganda and Cote ‘ d’ivoire where the regional winning teams receive seed funding to grow their business.
This is what one of the beneficiaries had to say: “We are greatly honored to be part of this important initiative aimed at empowering young lives and preparing them to become responsible citizens.
“We look forward to more game changing solutions being realized, given what could be achieved in just three days,” says Bonga Khumalo, the Programmes Manager at Junior Achievement South Africa.
About JA South Africa:
Junior Achievement (JA) South Africa—a member of JA Worldwide—is one of South Africa’s largest and most-impactful youth-serving NGOs. JA South Africa has a presence in all nine provinces and has reached over 600,000 youth since its inception in 1979. It is JA Africa’s oldest JA member and reaches youth through entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy.