In their quest for jobs, the Alex youth has been urged not to forego education which will guarantee them better opportunities.
Liziwe Ntshinga-Makoro, City of Joburg’s Region E director, encouraged hundreds of youths to seek education during a Careers Exhibition Day at Sankopano Community Centre.
Like most townships, Alex’s youths swell the unemployment ranks. In most cases, they will be looking for menial work as many of them have either dropped out of school or have only got a matric.
Makoro advised these youths never to abandon education, but to consider part-time jobs while pursuing further education, which was the only gateway to a better life.
“We have partnerships with other entities which have agreed to subsidise training programmes to make them affordable and help you acquire skills while studying further,” she said in reference to a training company offering IT skills and the Alex Youth Advisory Centre. The centre exposes youths to a range of opportunities, including bursaries for further training, education and internships.
Also present at the careers day were representatives of non-government organisation ORT SA. The organisation’s Ariellah Rosenberg said the 130-year-old organisation supported Alexandra primary schools in science and maths tuition.
“With these subjects, the sky is the limit in many career choices,” Rosenberg said. She added that in addition to this tuition, they improved the teaching skills of these subjects and held a Second Chance tutorial programme at Thusong Youth Centre for those who failed maths and science.
She added that they also provided a Ready For Life programme to assist those pupils oriented towards business.
