GIRL pupils with aspirations to become lawyers from Umqhele High School in Clermont spent their day at Legal Aid SA offices on Thursday.
Legal Aid SA, which provides professional legal advice and representation to those who can not afford it, hosted the girls as part of the “Take A Girl Child To Work Day campaign” sponsored by Cell C.
The six Grade 12 pupils were accompanied by their English teacher Nomawethu Sikhakhane to a presentation before embarking on a tour of all the different departments in Legal Aid.
Regional communications officer at Legal Aid, Bongani Mahlangu said they feel that women are still under represented in work places which is why they have girl pupils visiting their offices every year since this campaign started.
“This year we chose a school from the township area where pupils are not exposed to career guidance.
“On this day we give them exposure to vacancies that we have here. Legal Aid staff is not made up of lawyers only but we have other departments like the admin side.
“We believe that people should be informed about the career that they want to pursue. Some people study for three or four years and down the line discover that the job is not what they wanted,” said Mahlangu.
One of the pupils Nozipho Ndlovu said she wanted to study to be a social worker but now she would love to be a lawyer.
“I have learnt so many things here today, Legal Aid does not deal with criminal cases but also civil cases.
“My interest is to help the community. I would love to work for Legal Aid as they render free services for people who can not afford it and pensioners,” said Nozipho.
After the presentation and the tour, the pupils were awarded certificates and received goodie bags.
