VODACOM has launched a follow-up to its stimulating #CodeLikeAGirl programme that will see 700 girls between the ages of 14 and 18 receive coding training from 27 June – 15 July 2022.

The Vodacom #CodeLikeAGirl programme is aimed at inspiring more girls to explore careers that require coding skills to help them get a start in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and industries.

Often referred to as the jobs of the future, STEM drives innovation, social wellbeing, inclusive growth, and sustainable development the world over.

Female participation is lagging in STEM fields in most countries. A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), titled “Cracking the code: Girls’ and women’s education in STEM” indicated only 35% of STEM students in higher education globally are women. Young women also comprise only 25% of students in engineering or information and communication technology (ICT).

Njabulo Mashigo, HR director for Vodacom South Africa, says: “Gender norms, culture and stereotypes are still shaping girls’ choices about their studies and their eventual careers, which is why so few consider STEM and ICT careers. We need to create more opportunities for girls and young women to build confidence in STEM, by empowering them through education and coding skills, so they can become the engineers and innovators of the future. Our vision is to address the underrepresentation of women and girls in STEM education and careers. Through this initiative, we are looking to improve on these numbers, and empower even more women to explore STEM careers.”

Coding is the process of transforming ideas, solutions, and instructions into a language that the computer can understand, using programming languages like Javascript, Java, C/C++, or Python, to act as the translator between humans and machines.

The “Code like a Girl” programme aims to develop not only coding skills but also valuable life skills for girls aged between 14-18 years and encourages them to consider careers in ICT and STEM. It provides authoritative mentors for the girls to inspire them to be passionate about technology and its possibilities.

During the week-long training course, pupils will be exposed to knowledge of computer languages, robotics and development programmes including HTML, CSS, GitHub and Version control, Bootstrap and JavaScript, Basic Computer and Introduction to Coding. They will also be taken on a fun and empowering life skills journey while developing coding, presentation, and communication skills.

At the end of the week, each girl will know how to develop her own website and present her work to the rest of the coding class. The programme was first implemented in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC and Lesotho in 2017. In SA alone, since the programme was launched, Vodacom has trained 2 332 girls. It had its biggest intake in 2021, with over 1 000 pupils from eight provinces taking part. Vodacom aims to train1 500 girls from across all nine provinces in the current financial year. This investment by Vodacom in digital skills training programmes for young women will help to narrow the gender digital divide at an early age in South Africa.

Mashigo says: “Projects such as Vodacom’s #CodeLikeAGirl have the potential to significantly close the gender gap and inspire young girls to pursue STEM careers in the digital era towards which we are transitioning. I believe that we can ultimately change the outlook of the number of women in STEM careers, helping them to shape the future.” 

SUPPLIED

JULIAN BROWN|

ON the morning of Wednesday, 16 June 1976, young students from schools across Soweto set out on a march through the sprawling black township outside Johannesburg. The march was to amplify their opposition to the apartheid government’s new school-language policy that would see Afrikaans replace English as their main medium of instruction in several key subjects.

Before the march began, they were confident. They knew the risks that they faced – “we decided that there should be no placard inciting the police as such, one activist put it afterwards, because “we wanted a peaceful demonstration – it had to be disciplined”. Even so, they were excited, believing that the march would be a carnivalesque event, “a Guy Fawkes thing,” as one put it – an event in which the world would be turned upside down.

Their excitement buoyed them in the early hours of the morning, as thousands of students joined in the march. But this atmosphere did not last.

A few hours into the march, heavily-armed members of the South African Police confronted a crowd of students near the Orlando West High School. They fired tear-gas at the students, and then, moments later, fired live ammunition. In the moments that followed, they shot and killed Hector Pieterson an eleven-year old child. As if energised by this death, the police continued to assault and kill students.

In the hours that followed, another 10 people died at the hands of the police. Over the next three days, at least 138 people died. And the deaths did not stop. Throughout the rest of the year, the police and military would patrol Soweto and many other sites of popular resistance, and use whatever force they deemed necessary to suppress dissent, quash protest, and establish order.

These protests reignited the public flame of resistance, and helped re-make the opposition to apartheid. They provided a model and an example for activists to follow into the 1980s.

June 16 in perspective

Today, 46 years later, South Africa commemorates June 16th as National Youth Day.

It is no doubt important to do this, and to remember the sacrifices and struggles of the past. But in commemorating this day, South Africa runs the risk of sacralising these events – of lifting them out of their historical context, stripping them of their political complexities, and remaking them into a mere symbol, something that only needs to be remembered once a year and then forgotten the rest of the time.

In my book, published on the eve of the 40th anniversary of June 16th, The Road to Soweto, I argued that the sacralisation of this singular day has distorted understandings of South Africa’s post-apartheid democracy.

It is now almost trite to suggest that the political order of post-apartheid South Africa was forged in conference rooms and around negotiating tables in the 1990s; that the conversations, debates, and arguments between the representatives of the negotiating parties are what shaped the terms of the country’s political institutions and laws; and that the country constitution is best understood as the product of an elite idealism. All of this is at least partially true.

What is wrong with this vision is that it leaves out the role of ordinary people taking to the streets –- the role of protest, of marches, of popular organisation, dissent, discordance, creativity, and struggle –- in making the post-apartheid democratic order.

It presumes that the state is the beginning and the end of the political order; that democracy is only achievable through representation; and it presumes that “the people” are a political resource to be deployed by elite actors (whether these be politicians or intellectuals, revolutionaries or revanchists) and not a source of political ideas in themselves.

But this is not true.

Making democracy

While democracy may be encouraged and entrenched through institutions and ideas, it is first made through action. The students who marched on 16 June 1976 did more than simply register a political opinion.

They enacted an alternate form of politics. By gathering and marching together, and by acting together they constituted themselves as political agents – as people who already possessed the kind of agency that the apartheid state denied they could ever claim. And by marching side-by-side – regardless of their age and gender, status and authority – they constituted themselves as a democratic force, as a community of equals.

As I’ve argued before, this form of politics is not merely a product of the past, not merely a product of the anti-apartheid struggle. Instead, it has marked – and still marks – popular dissent and democratic organising in South Africa since the end of apartheid.

Over the past two decades, such forms of popular democracy have marked the struggles of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a shack-dwellers movement that organises in informal settlements across South Africa. It has driven the activism of the Treatment Action Campaign, and its grassroots work to force the state to provide anti-retroviral medication. And it has led to labour activists, unions, and other communities achieving significant changes in the platinum mining industry.

The roots of democracy lie in these actions, in these claims to agency and equality. These acts are themselves rooted in a complex pattern of joy and anger – in the desire to turn the world upside-down, and emerge out of specific historical and social contexts. But they can transcend these moments. They can open up a channel, create a model, and instigate a revolution.

In other words: if the events of 16 June 1976 are seen as an ongoing part of the process of constituting democracy in South Africa, then we can see it as part of contemporary political struggles – and not just as an historical event, safely sealed away in the past.

The marches, protests, and pickets that mark contemporary South Africa are the source of a continually-renewing (and, perhaps, continually-mutating) democracy. The institutions of the state may shape the ways in which this democracy develops, but they do not create it. “The people” make politics.

At this moment, as South Africa’s political elites continue to be mired in scandal, as the state bureaucracy struggles to fulfil its functions, and as scholars and activists question the legitimacy of the constitutional settlement, the anniversary of the uprising of 16 June 1976 in an opportunity to think about what post-apartheid democracy can mean.

It does not only mean the forms and institutions that define the democratic state. It must also mean the ongoing acts of ordinary people, the acts that assert and imagine democracy on the streets over and again.

(Julian Brown Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand)

THE CONVERSATION

BASIC Education minister Angie Motshekga says her department is developing a new plan to promote the nine previously marginalised languages at schools in South Africa – other than English and Afrikaans.

Responding in a recent written parliamentary Q&A, Motshekga said the plan will see these languages used as ‘languages of learning and teaching’ from Grade 3 and beyond. Languages which will be featured in the programme include:

IsiZulu;IsiXhosa;IsiNdebele;Siswati;Sesotho;Setswana;Sepedi;Tshivenda;Xitsonga.

Research worldwide shows that learners learn best through their home languages, Motshekga said.

“The Department of Basic Education, through the Eastern Cape Education’s own initiative, piloted the Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education wherein IsiXhosa and Sesotho were utilised as languages of learning and teaching for mathematics and science and technology beyond Grade 3,” she said.

“The learnings from the Eastern Cape Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education pilot taught us to be very prudent in dealing with a programme of this nature.”

Motshekga added that her department was working with the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (DHESI) on teacher production to ensure that there are enough teachers to instruct students across these nine languages in key subjects.

The minister has previously acknowledged that there are issues with moving to a purely mother-tongue-based system, noting that it was likely impossible to have a pure class in Sotho or Xhosa in Gauteng the way similar classes have been held in the Eastern Cape.

She added that in classes teachers use multiple different languages to help children learn and get their point across. However, when it comes to assessments – which are typically done in English – they are once again forced to grapple with a language they did not understand while learning.

“They are no longer being tested on their cognitive development or understanding (of the work). You are now testing their language abilities, which is a problem.

“Government has begun the process of changing this and the next step is to assess them in the language they are taught – so that we are able to assess performance and not language proficiency.”

She added that government would have to use technology and other systems to effectively translate complicated scientific and mathematical concepts into languages that do not necessarily have the same terminology.

BUSINESS TECH

PUBLIC Service and Administration Acting Minister, Thulas Nxesi, has called on government departments and public entities to enrol young people in internships as part of the breaking barriers to Entry into the Public Service Programme (BB2E) and the Cadet Programme.

These programmes are aimed at preparing young people for careers in the public sector and for the work environment in general, as the country begins National Youth Month.

The five-day BB2E course and the 18-month Cadet Programme are offered by the National School of Government (NSG) and target unemployed graduates with post-school qualifications, and interns in the public sector and statutory bodies.

The BB2E course introduces young people to government and teaches them how government works and the strategies for delivering quality public services.

It also teaches them how public funds are administered and managed, how to carry out basic administrative and communication functions, the policies and prescripts that guide the appointment of persons into the public service, and how to write CVs and prepare themselves for interviews.

In a statement on Monday, Nxesi said the unemployment rate among youth with post-school qualifications is very high in the country.

“The public service, as the largest employer, has responded to this challenge by enabling unemployed graduates to gain experience through the Public Service Graduate Internship and Learnership Programme.”

“In addition to this, the NSG has introduced the BB2E course and the Cadet Programme. The aim is to prepare the unemployed graduates for employment opportunities in the public sector.”

“This is a very important investment in our youth and promotes their development. As we mark National Youth Month, we invite government departments and public entities to enrol youth in these critical development programmes,” Nxesi said.

The 18-month Cadet Programme is a sister initiative to the successful Breaking Barriers to Entry into the Public Service initiative and seeks to deepen the understanding of the public sector, whilst also covering issues in the broader social entrepreneurial space.

It is made up of four courses/modules, which are: The Constitution and the Administration of the Public Sector, Ethics in the Public Service, Writing for Government and Personal Mastery.

The Minister emphasised that the Personal Mastery component is particularly important because it covers other generic employability skills that are necessary in the workspace in both the public and private sectors.

These include self-management, emotional intelligence, job search skills, problem solving skills, as well as entrepreneurship/creating your own job.

Nxesi said the ultimate goal is to shape the young graduates into “public service cadres of a special kind”.

The attributes of such public service cadres are:

* Breaking new ground: A public servant who will be able to make personal interventions to translate policy into action.
* Inspiring success: A public servant who is self-motivated and ready to motivate others to serve the public.
* Raising the standard: A public servant who is responsive and capable of giving her/his best regardless of whether he/she is in the front office or at management level.
* Nothing is impossible: A public servant who does not use policy or resource constraints as an excuse for not doing work but comes up with turn-around strategies to salvage a failing situation.
* Making a difference to people: A public servant who is always committed, results-oriented and measures the impact of her/his actions against the public’s expectations.
* Collective responsibility and teamwork: A public servant who believes in partnership, considers the opinion of other colleagues, peers and the public, and is able to network with organs of civil society, community development workers and all other stakeholders.
* On board: A public servant who is on board is one who owns the processes of service delivery and understands that blame for the failure of the system should be laid squarely on his/her shoulders.

On 20-24 June 2022, 45 officials from different national and provincial departments will attend a training of trainers (TOT) session to be empowered and developed to train the youth on Personal Mastery.

This follows a successful TOT session that was conducted in November 2021, which was attended by 40 officials.
In March 2022, at total of 288 Young Patriots from the National Youth Development Agency and the Department of Arts, Sports and Culture attended Personal Mastery course.

“The feedback received from learners and officials from both the NYDA and the Department of Arts and Culture was extremely positive. We thus encourage departments and entities across all spheres of government to enrol young graduates (interns) on the Cadet Programme,” Nxesi said.

For enquiries and enrolment, relevant officials in departments should contact The National School of Government call centre on 0861008326, via email on contactcentre@thensg.gov.za or visit the website on www.thensg.gov.za.

SA NEWS

SMILES could not cease from the faces of the graduates of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Zion University as the Liberian President George Weah announced at the 31st Graduation ceremony that he will pay the graduation fee for all 356 graduates.

Each of the 356 graduates was to pay US$450 and with that, the President will have to pay US$160,200 in fulfillment of his promise.

Weah, after giving the keynote address at AME Zion University 31st Convocation program, a faculty of the institution announced that a significant portion of the graduates was still owing graduation fees.

However, being generous, the President sent a message to the faculty who was giving the announcement that he will pay all 356 graduates’ graduation fees.

Weah, according to record, has been the first President to pay all graduation for under-graduate level. The move by the President comes after he paid for all students from the University of Liberia graduate school.

In March 2022, Weah paid the amount of $55,800 to the University of Liberia authorities through the president of the class to cover all the expenses for 124 students who graduated from various disciplines.

Also, speaking earlier, the Liberian President told graduates to work hard, adding that success will not come to the graduates if they rest on what they have achieved.

According to the President, after adequate preparation, success will only come to those who are dedicated and disciplined enough to do the work.

“I want to encourage you to dream and to dream big dreams. But then, I advise you not to make dreams your master but to wake up from the sleep of dreams and go to work to make it happen. Most dreams will not come true without hard work, struggle, and sacrifice,” the Liberian Leader said.

Weah added: “I want you graduates to know that failure is a crucial part of success. Failure teaches you a lesson that you must be willing to learn, and only when you learn that lesson, will you benefit from your failure.”

According to President Weah, in his own career, there were many failures along the way but he was able to triumph over every problem that came his way.

“In the beginning of my soccer career, for example, I was benched many times before I became a regular member of the starting teams. But I used my time on the bench to study the game and the other players, and learn from their mistakes, so that each time I got the opportunity to play, I tried to make sure that I made a positive.”

Weah added: “And you are all aware that in my political career, I ran for President and was defeated twice, but I did not give up. Each time, I took stock of my journey, and I went back to where I had left my dream, and recalibrated, and continued my journey. Eventually, I applied those lessons to develop a winning formula. And here we are today.”

Also, at the event, Weah was honored for what the university terms as his outstanding contributions, and achievements to humanity and society.

“The Board of Trustees of the AME Zion University by recommendation of the Faculty Senate, and president of the AME Zion University, has herewith approved the conferral on you, George Mannah Weah, the Degree of Doctor of Letters (L.H.D.) honoris causa in international Relations,” the University citation quoted.

It is not the first time President has been honored by the university.

The President received his first-ever honorary doctorate degree, 23 years ago from AME Zion University. The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) was conferred upon him in recognition of his efforts, achievements, and humanitarian gestures as a philanthropist and a world-class athlete.

The AME Zion University commenced in 1993 with the founding of the AME Zion School of Business, attached to the AME Zion Academy.

In 1987, the AME Zion Community College was established, offering Associate Degrees in Criminal justice administration and law enforcement, liberal art, and business, as well as Diploma in Trauma Counseling, and its first convocation in May 1989.

In 1996, by an act of the national legislature, the AME Zion University College was established with the Reverend Frederick Umoja, serving as its first president.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA

WENDY MOTHATA|

THE learner registration and admission process to all North West public schools for the 2023 academic year has opened and will close on September 30 2022.

In a media statement on Sunday, the North West Department of Education said that application forms for admissions are available in all public schools.

Admissions will be on first come-first serve basis, it said.

“As of 01 June 2022, the North West Department of Education has opened learner registration season for its public schools and encourages parents and legal guardians to register children for the 2023 academic year,” said North West education spokesperson, Elias Malindi.

In accordance with Section 5(4)(a) of the South African Schools Act (SASA), the requirements for admissions are as follows:
• Grade R: 4 years turning 5 by 30 June 2023
• Grade 1: 5 years turning 6 by 30 June 2023,
• Other grades: A learner who is still under the age of 15 must be placed on suitable grades and those above 16 years of years be advised to register at an AET centre provided they are already enrolled at ordinary public school in January 2000 (except if it is deemed to be in the best interest of a learner), and
• Learners with special needs should be admitted where it is reasonably practical in ordinary public schools, special schools and full service schools.

North West Education MEC, Mmaphefo Matsemela, has encouraged parents and legal guardians to adhere to the directives for smooth registration.

“We ask all parents and legal guardians to take this four months’ period to register learners for 2023 academic year. Over the years this has helped us with proper planning in terms of school furniture and ordering of textbooks and I thank parents for their cooperation,” Matsemela said.

Matsemela outlined documents that needs to accompany the application.

“We also ask parents to accompany application forms with a certified copy of birth certificate, immunization card, most recent report card, and transfer letter or card from previous school.”

Matsemela added that parents outside South Africa must present asylum seeker permits or certificate granting refugees status.

“To parents from outside South Africa, they must have learner’s study Visa or parents work permit, residence permit (or proof of application for non-citizens), asylum seeker permits or certificate granting refugees status for all non-citizens should be presented,” she said.

While schools are compelled to compile waiting lists, principals and SBGs are advised to encourage parents to submit application forms before the deadline to avoid longer waiting lists and issue written responses of acceptance or non-acceptance to parents by 31 October 2022.

INSIDE EDUCATION

STAFF REPORTER|

THE court case between SECTION27 and the South African Council for Educators (SACE) is back in the Johannesburg high court on Tuesday after two incidents of corporal punishment involving Grade 2 and Grade 5 learners whose assaulters received a light fine and continue to teach.

In December 2020, SECTION27, on behalf of the Centre for Child Law and the parents of two young learners (ages 7 and 10), initiated a case against the SACE for imposing lenient sanctions on two educators who pleaded guilty for assaulting learners in their classroom.

In South Africa, corporal punishment has been banned since 1996.

“We are taking SACE to court and requesting that it reconsiders the decisions it made in respect of the two educators, as well as revise its Mandatory Sanctions on Contraventions of the Code of Professional Ethics, a document used by SACE when sanctioning educators for misbehaviour, in an effort to protect learners from further harm and ensure that the ban on corporal punishment is taken seriously,” said the public interest law centre on Monday.

SACE, the professional body responsible for maintaining and protecting educators’ ethical and professional standards, is opposing the case.

Their code of professional ethics expressly states that educators must refrain from any form of abuse, physical or psychological, and they are mandated to investigate and sanction any educator found guilty of this behaviour.

“Therefore the body is one of the important institutions that can help address and stop the use of corporal punishment in schools,” said SECTION27 in a statement.

“Sadly, they are failing in this role by imposing very lenient sanctions on educators found guilty of corporal punishment, including suspended sentences or mere fines, without addressing teachers’ violent behaviour or equipping them with the tools to implement non-violent discipline strategies.”

SECTION27 said although corporal punishment has been banned from South African schools since 1996, teachers are still tragically using corporal punishment to discipline learners, thereby perpetuating the culture of violence and abuse that already characterises many South African Communities.

Countless reports of learners being hit, thrown with objects, or verbally abused in class indicate that the ban on corporal punishment is not being properly enforced in schools, said SECTION27.

Children’s Institute, represented by Equal Education Law Centre, has been admitted to the case as amicus curiae (friend of the court), and will be making submissions to support our relief.

INSIDE EDUCATION

BLENDED mode of learning’s footprints can be traced back in mid of nineteen century.

It spread its wings in late 20th Century with Learning Management System and interactive learning experience through sound and Video with extensive usage of CD ROM developing it into First Web based Instruction.

Union between face-to- face and technology-based learning gave new impetus to students’ educational experience.

Pandemic propelled Digitization, Technology based learning seeping rapidly in the Education right from Junior KG to Graduation Level studies.

Leap bound technological development in the form of various User friendly easily accessible Video conferencing platforms facilitated blended learning during pandemic and is even facilitating other sectors also.

The concept of borrowing notes got promoted as sharing of pdfs, homework in notebooks rapidly converted into word document assignments.

This complete online mode soon made students as well as teachers miss their classroom environment but made them wish that technology could become a seamless part of their classroom learning.

Blended Learning assists in making this wish of an explorative digital classroom come true.

Blended Learning is the methodology of using digital learning tools along with the traditional face to face classroom teaching.

But then the question arises whether such digitization just of using pdfs instead of books or having files uploaded in LMS instead of workbooks submitted in staffroom, proves to be Blended learning?

Of course not.

Blended Learning has the potential to transform the entire teaching and learning process into a fruitful, engaging, and collaborative learning environment.

It is more about allowing students to control how they learn thus enabling them to gain personalized learning experiences.

The combination of in-person teaching techniques, teacher-led online modules, and self-paced learning forms the core of the Blended Learning strategy.

The teaching units developed under this umbrella focuses on:

* Creating micro lessons for helping students grasp content easily.
* Perform in between checks for understanding and design assessment that will align with the learning goals to be achieved.
* Collaborate with peer students to assimilate different perspectives
* Explore scenarios and connect the student’s understanding with them

Nowadays it is quite feasible to build student centric study materials with the help of modern multimedia tools.

Developing interactive lessons using ICT can really bring in an excitement among students to learn new skills. The teacher is now in the role of Facilitator rather than just a knowledge provider.

Advantages of Blended Learning:

Blended learning helps students to get a customized education as the teachers can assess their performance in multiple ways and can provide e-materials accordingly to help students grasp the subject matter according to their learning style.
Digital technology is helping to create interesting e-lessons involving gamification which explain concepts effectively to different learning styles of learners.
The blended mode of learning offers more time for student-teacher interaction as the online dissemination of study materials saves times of classroom teaching hours. This time can be utilized for student centric in-class activities.

Students learn at their own pace. The slow learners can go through online resources at their own speed for concept understanding which they would have found challenging to do so in regular classrooms.

The advanced learners get a chance to explore a lot more via content rich study materials. Currently it is possible to create a nourishing academic environment with the usage of different types of e-resources.

Collaboration with peers is one of the major differences that is seen during blended learning. When the students are trained to use the online tools effectively, they can communicate and collaborate with each other in a better way, even surpassing the geographical and time constraints.

They get time to interact with teachers and their classmates, thus gathering different perspectives leading towards deeper understanding.

Students discuss their ideas, experiment while working in teams and most importantly, they can do so within their campus or remotely, even with other student communities.

Multi language support with translated versions of e-resources is helping students to learn from teachers across the globe.

Knowledge now flows over the language hurdles and has spread across with help digitization.

Special e-content is developed for hearing and visually impaired learners with the help of which their teachers can make their classroom activities quite engaging.

Teachers have a greater responsibility to blend the online education with experiential and activity-based learning. It must be realized that Blended learning is not just a mix of our teaching and technology.

Merely replacing blackboards with presentations or a classroom lecture with an online video streaming does not become a blended mode of teaching.

The in-person learning, and online factors must work together to design enhanced experiential learning environments.

The digital education initiatives launched by the Indian government are providing online education across the country.

Teachers can take advantage of these initiatives for a blended mode of teaching. Several portal hosts MOOCs which can be accessed by all citizens for quality education.

Various portals provide engaging learning resources in multiple languages. Virtual Labs enables the undergraduate and postgraduate students to remotely access the virtual labs for their practicals.

The Open Educational Resources (OER) materials have opened the doors of learning to everyone willing to educate themselves.

Blended learning aims to develop a student-centered model of education.

With technology progressing rapidly, digitization and blended learning will create a promising definition of education and enrich students’ learning experience.

SUPPLIED| TOI

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA|

LATER this week, we will commemorate Youth Day in honour of the bravery and sacrifices of the generation of 1976 in its struggle against an unjust and illegitimate regime.

Today, the youth of South Africa confront new struggles in their quest to lead lives of dignity and in pursuit of a better life. Though we have made substantial progress in broadening opportunities for young people in basic and higher education, millions of young people remain unemployed.

While the latest employment figures give some cause for optimism – some 370,000 jobs were created in the first quarter of this year – we still have a huge mountain to climb in our quest to create more jobs, especially for young people.

According to Stats SA, youth unemployment in South Africa is at 66.5%. No society can expect to grow or thrive when the vast majority of its young people are out of work.

Our foremost priority as government is to achieve higher rates of inclusive growth that generate sustainable jobs at the scale of social need.

The economic reforms we are implementing, alongside measures such as industrial policy to support labour-intensive growth sectors, aim to drive growth and expand private sector employment. However, we cannot simply wait for higher growth to create jobs, especially for young people.

I hold the view that even as millions of people are unemployed, there is no shortage of work to be done to build a better South Africa.

This is the fundamental premise of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which is designed as a once-in-a-generation effort to tackle unemployment at scale.

The employment stimulus is on track to support a million jobs through a wide range of programmes, all of which contribute to improving communities and creating public goods that will last beyond the work itself.

Eighty-four per cent of all participants in these programmes are young people, and 62% are women.

The most recent initiative to be launched through the stimulus is the Social Employment Fund, which will pioneer a new and innovative approach to public employment.

The Social Employment Fund will partner with non-governmental organisations across the country to deliver ‘work for the common good’. This work is in areas like community safety, food kitchens, urban agriculture, early childhood development and the fight against gender-based violence.

The Social Employment Fund will create 50,000 new work opportunities in the first phase before scaling up further in subsequent phases.

The unique feature of social employment is that it recognises that unemployed people in communities are a powerful resource for development, not a ‘problem’ to be solved.

We have many real problems to address – from improving waste collection to creating safe and beautiful public spaces – that require work, and many people who are eager to do it.

Not only does social employment provide an income for participants by supporting locally-driven initiatives to fulfil local needs; social employment can also unlock creativity and agency, build local participation and strengthen mutual support systems in communities.

Another important programme that has now entered implementation, and which I announced in the State of the Nation Address, is a revitalised National Youth Service.

This programme will create a further 50,000 jobs for unemployed young people performing acts of service across the country, while providing much-needed work experience and reinforcing the value of active citizenship.

The recruitment of participants for social employment and the youth service is currently underway.

What these programmes show is that public employment can achieve multiple objectives at once. These include addressing unemployment, building skills and experience, providing public goods and services, and, perhaps most important of all, contributing to a massive national effort to improve the state of our country.

Despite the great setback caused by COVID-19, our economy is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. As government, we will continue to champion programmes and initiatives that limit the impact of unemployment on young people until the private sector starts creating more jobs at scale.

I once again call on business to be part of this effort by employing more young people, by making use of the Employee Tax Incentive and other measures, and by supporting and buying from businesses owned and run by young people.

This Youth Day, as we recall the struggles of our past, let us remain firmly focused on the work that we are doing – including through our innovative public employment programmes – to build a better future for all the young people of our country.

From the desk of the President

ALMOST one-third of the National Science and Technology Forum’s (NSTF) top 19 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) matriculants from 2021 were accepted to study at the University of Cape Town.

These first-year students, who are all studying STEM-related courses at various universities, are part of the NSTF’s Brilliants programme, now in its 21st year.

One top male and one top female learner from each of the provinces (three were chosen from Mpumalanga, the result of a tie) was chosen by the NSTF for their 2021/2022 NSTF Brilliants programme.

This supports young South Africans who have the potential to be future STEM leaders and innovators.

Of the 19, six (three females and three males) are at UCT. Half are registered with the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment and half with the Faculty of Health Sciences.

One of the students is from the Eastern Cape, one is from the Free State, two are from Limpopo and two are from Mpumalanga.
Each of the 19 impressed with their marks in mathematics and physical science in the 2021 National Senior Certificate examinations.

Two of the three Mpumalanga candidates scored 100% for physical science and one got 100% for mathematics.

One of the awardees’ rewards is an educational tour sponsored by the Lewis Foundation.

The sponsors of the Brilliants programme are South32 in the Department of Science and Innovation and the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.

SUPPLIED| UCT