Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina has honoured university graduates for their hard work and dedication to their studies.

The graduates are beneficiaries of the City’s R100 million community bursary scheme, which has now benefitted over 6 000 financially needy students in the Metro. 

On Wednesday, Masina spent a day with these graduates, including the top matric learners of 2019.

The occasion was the annual City of Ekurhuleni Academic Excellence Awards Ceremony 2020, held at the Alberton Civic Centre.

Masina handed out certificates and bursaries for the 2020 academic year including corporate gifts to the top performing learners, which included new graduate Kamogelo Innocent Motsoagae, a recipient of the Community Bursary Scheme who graduated in physiotherapy.

He was joined on stage by a newly graduated medical doctor Lisa Nunes and architect Lerato Tsuping, recipients of the Ekurhuleni Mayor’s Tertiary Assistance Fund (EMTAF).

The trio wrote under the topic, THIS IS MY STORY: Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers, about their experiences overcoming their challenging circumstances and graduated thanks to the financial assistance from the Ekurhuleni Metro.

Their work was moderated by Councillor Lesiba Mpya, MMC for Human Settlements in Ekurhuleni.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the City of Ekurhuleni and the mayor for the bursary given to me a few years ago,” said Motsoagae.

“I have had my own struggles and challenges, but I am glad I finally made it as a physiotherapist, thanks to the bursary scheme from the city of Ekurhuleni.”

Motsoagae said he would use his position as physiotherapist to promote healthy living, particularly in black communities.

He said he was deeply concerned about the number of people dying due to lifestyle- and stress-related diseases such as diabetes, strokes and heart attacks.

Motsoagae said he would like to establish weekly boot camps in the township where people can be taught about the value of healthy living and physical exercise.

“I would like to say, you can deal with these diseases without using medicine but routine exercise and healthy lifestyle. I would also like to teach our people how to deal with obesity in our communities. Lastly, I would also like to see more men reduce their big stomachs through daily exercise,” he said.

Motsoagae said as a man, he was also concerned about the high incidents of gender-based violence in South Africa.

 “We must speak out against gender-based violence, especially men, who are mainly the perpetrators of GBV. It all starts from the bottom. We need to educate young men on how to deal with their anger and violence from an early age,” he said.

 Nunes, 24, who comes from Alberton, said she was the first generation child in her family to have the luxury of studying towards a medical degree at Wits University.

“I have always loved helping people and doing good things. That’s why I chose to be a medical doctor. I have always to assist people from less privileged backgrounds than me. I am also very grateful to the bursary that I received from Ekurhuleni,” said Nunes, a former Alberton High School learner. 

She said university experience was different from high school.

“My advice to those who are going to university for the first time this year is that start working from day one and be disciplined throughout the whole year. However, enjoy yourself too, eat well, pursue your hobbies and have fun at the same time and spent time with your family when the need arises.”

Nunes intends to do internship at Baragwanath Hospital as part of her community service before getting a full-time post in the local or provincial government sector.

Tsuping, who studied architectural design studies at the University of Johannesburg, said she was a change agent and looking forward to transform the face of architecture in Ekurhuleni.

She said as a little girl growing up in Nhlapo Section, a violent and economically depressed part of Katlehong township, she said she had to overcome many challenges affecting the youth including alcohol, drugs, bad influences and hopelessness.

“I come from Nhlapo Section, one of the most disadvantaged areas in the township but I have made it against all odds. I told myself that despite my background, I will become an architect.”

“Things are bad but excuses don’t help. There are so many bad influences. We need to go back to our communities and teach young people that you can become whoever you want to be in life if you are disciplined and focused,” said Tsuping.

Tsuping said as an architect, she hopes to change many government buildings in Ekurhuleni by adding a bit of bright colours to them.

“Most of the buildings in Ekurhuleni are an eyesore, if not totally intimidating. I would like to add a bit of colour to these buildings in order to make them look good,” said Tsuping.

Kobus Maree, University of Pretoria

The world of work is changing constantly, profoundly, and faster. This is clear from the outsourcing of work, waves of technological advances, increasing automation in business, and big data analysis driving the growth of industries.

The needs of industry are shifting constantly and the education system should be responding to provide needs-based support.

Education theorists, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have to remember that the occupational situation differs from country to country. They also need to remember that changing work contexts are influencing employees and job-seekers in distinct ways.

Work is becoming increasingly more complex. This means that there’s a growing need for lifelong learning, teamwork, and networking as well as an increased emphasis on digital skills to promote career adaptability and employability.

They also have to bear in mind that the industrial sector is shrinking. Accordingly, work-seekers in the Global South have been turning to the service sector as well as to the informal economy with a fair amount of success. This trend is likely to continue.

The issue is whether education systems are keeping pace with the changes.

Gateway subjects

To understand whether young South Africans have the skills required by the current world of work after 12 years in school I use the lens of the so-called gateway subjects.

These are maths and physical sciences and, to an extent, accounting. These form the foundation for scientific, economic, and industrial development and research.

Multiple educationists and researchers have contended that learners who’ve passed maths and physical sciences and have acquired the basic aspects of information communication skills and robotics have a competitive advantage in the occupational world over those that have not. South Africa simply cannot afford the unacceptably low percentage of school learners who pass Grade 12 with mathematics and physical sciences.

Why the emphasis on maths and physical sciences?

Having passed Grade 12 with maths and physical sciences helps because these subjects contribute at least 22% to the economy. Likewise, having passed either information communication technology or even computer-assisted technology helps to advance the economy by reducing production costs, boosting the growth of new businesses, and improving communication.

It also helps to acquire “soft skills” such as career adaptability, emotional-social intelligence, career resilience, creativity, innovation, and the ability to collaborate and to network, among other things.

These skills are increasingly being seen as “hard skills” in the 21st century workplace because they’re strongly aligned with market needs.

Unfortunately, they aren’t being taught and learned adequately at school.

South Africa’s overly academic school system

A number of problems afflict South Africa’s education system.

Black learners continue to feel the effects of apartheid’s education system which spent more on education for white learners. This means that the vast majority of black learners in the neediest environments get inadequate teaching and learning.

Unless the disparity between rich children and poor children is addressed, the gap between the achievements of learners in well-resourced schools and disadvantaged learners in resource-scarce schools will persist.

The effects of this disparity are felt for the rest of the pupils’ lives. One consequence is that they they struggle to succeed in university studies.

An added difficulty is that the country’s overly academic school system sends the message to learners and their parents that learners should strive to study at a university and that it is ‘better’ to study at a university than, for instance, at a TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) College.

I’m in favour of introducing a system that facilitates differentiated training from an early stage.

At the end of grade nine – at about 15 years old – most learners are already able decide whether they want to pursue academic or more vocational studies.

This is the point where the system should start channelling them in career-related directions that will give them their best chance of eventually pursuing careers that “fit” their personalities – including their interests and aptitudes and enable them to enact their central life themes.

Another key factor that needs to be addressed is the matter of inadequate career counselling for pupils – black learners especially. During apartheid, the disadvantaged black majority of students were denied access to career counselling in schools.

Even today, the vast majority of black learners still receive little career counselling at school and cannot afford to pay a career counsellor.

Funding should be made available by the government and employers to enable learners to consult career counsellors. Group-based career counselling is a viable solution to the challenge of providing career counselling in schools with large numbers of pupils.

Solutions

I maintain that there are solutions for these challenges. What’s needed is the will to use resources that are available and to move forward expeditiously.

To help narrow the disparity gap I’ve argued in favour of making it compulsory for graduating teachers and educational psychologists to do community service in rural areas and townships. These professionals must be given incentives, their safety must be ensured, and they must be paid a decent salary.

Another step that could be taken is to rehire the many teachers who have been retrenched or who have taken severance package deals.

Kobus Maree, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Pretoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.