They are doing so through an accredited six months career readiness course for matriculants at Phuthaditjaba Community Centre, Alexandra. The course is free and is a partnership between the centre and New Beginnings Learning Academy. A hundred participants in the 19-30 age group are attending and will be trimmed to 80 based on commitment and attendance.
“These youths’ hopes for a better life have been dashed by lack of workplace experience, self-confidence and poor matric results which hindered them from accessing tertiary education,” said facilitator Lucky Maduwa.
Tracy Kotzen, lead facilitator said, “The course was piloted in Orange Farm last year and conducted in Diepsloot, Gauteng and Mfuleni in the Western Cape. It aims to close the gap between township youths and those from better resourced areas by up-skilling them so that they can compete when looking for jobs.
Afrika Tikkun Services, a charity organisation, is living up to its theme of ‘developing African communities’.
“Most of them lack self-awareness, self-confidence, and coping skills to deal with fear of failure when competing with others in the workplace.”
She stated that the course provided 120 credits with modules that included career assessment, personality profiling, English, basic maths and accounting, entrepreneurship, job etiquette, report writing, interview, presenting skills, Occupational Health and Safety Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act. It also exposes them to sources of bursaries for further studies if they want to follow the academic route.
“After completing the course we will try to place them in learnerships and internships,” Kotzen said. “We will also continue to mentor them through a fraternity which will keep them networked so that they can continue exchanging information on opportunities and encourage each other to be good future citizens.”
A participant, Johanna Madumo was thrilled to be one of the lucky ones. ” I matriculated in 2008 and since then have not been able to get a job,” she said. “This course is already helping me to discover my talents, set my personal goals and know careers that suit my personality and strengths. I am confident it will expose me to many opportunities.”
