Close to 400 young people from across Ekurhuleni attended the two-day Indaba, which was hosted at The Lakes Hotel and Conference Centre on June 29 and 30.
In attendance were participants in the Vukuphile Learnership Programme, which aimed to empower young people to enter the construction industry successfully.
The youth empowerment fund will assist pre-qualified businesses owned by the youth, women, people with disabilities, black industries and community job creation initiatives.
Guest speaker and MEC for Basic Education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, outlined salient areas which the provincial government needs to address in order to curb youth unemployment.
“Young people must be able to empower and sustain themselves, they should not be queuing for RDP houses,” he said.
Lesufi also highlighted the need for the youth to be skilled and said that this must start at school level. “We should employ teachers who are qualified to teach in order to obtain the right output,” he said.
Another important aspect is the introduction of technology in schools in the hope of eliminating the chalkboard system from high school classrooms by 2019.
“The aim is to have one tablet per learner, one laptop per teacher and one digital board per classroom,” Lesufi explained.
Grade 11 learners are now also given the opportunity to obtain learner driver’s licences and this, according to Lesufi, provides them with the necessary skills to find gainful employment.
Also read: Efforts to decrease unemployment highlighted in State of the City Address
Be prepared to pay more from July 1
