Beware of fake training institutions

As the nation congratulates all the matriculants who passed their final exams and we move into the new academic year, I would also like to take this opportunity to warn all former learners who will not be enrolling at a tertiary institution or technikon of their choice due to poor pass marks, to take great care when selecting private colleges and educational institutions to further their studies.

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Scores of unregistered colleges and learning institutions around Gauteng will also be opening their doors to lure these unsuspecting, desperate young township learners from poor communities with worthless, uncredited and unrecognised courses. Many of them lack proper career guidance, so they will fall for the meaningless, fanciful short courses which last for six months to a year.

Once the course is over, the learners are issued with graduation certificates, many of which are not worth the paper they are printed on.

In most instances, these desperate learners are the only members of their family who have ever been to a classroom and can read, write and count, as well as have a conversation in English. With their illiterate parents at home, they brandish these carefully crafted, colourful brochures promising them an endless world of fun and opportunity with a diploma or a certificate issued by the unregistered college.

The brochures also promise potential learners accredited qualifications and falsely claim that the college or training institution is recognised by, and registered, with the Department of Higher Education and Training, as well as with the different credible and registered accredited government training Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).

Of course, as the eyes and ears of the communities of Kathorus, I believe it is our responsibility as the local newspaper to draw the attention of our readers to these unscrupulous dealings by people who operate these colleges in your communities and target learners from your neighbourhoods with their shady dealings.

Both learners and their parents are urged to scrutinise, peruse and ask pertinent questions about a college before committing to the registration process. Make sure you do not find yourself or your parents bound by a ridiculous legal contract that will be an albatross around your neck.

Parents and learners are also urged to verify all information and details about the college they wish to enrol at, and verify that the college or institution is formally registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training and all the relevant education and training bodies it claims to belong to.

The news of the young mother accused of murder is a serious indictment on our morality.

I must confess I felt a lump in my throat as I read an article about a 24-year-old Mpumalanga mother, Zinhle Maditle, who allegedly killed her four young children a day after Christmas.

The children were buried on January 8, while their detained mother made a brief formal appearance in the local magistrate’s court for a formal remand while police try to unravel the brutal murders. The comments made in a national daily tabloid by the father of some of the accused’s four dead children shines a light on the startling reality of what goes on in the lives of teenagers in townships.

However, it is not for this newspaper to play a “holier than thou” role. Let us also bear in mind that although the accused was the mother, she was also still a little girl herself when she had her first child.

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She was 16 years old when her first child, eight-year-old Minenhle, was born. She found herself caught up in motherhood that, with three more children within a short space of time, was simply too overwhelming for her to handle.

As we all know, this happens daily to many teenage girls.

The struggles young people, especially girls, live through once they reach puberty is beyond the comprehension of many parents.

As a result of life and societal pressure that continuously bear down on most young people, the majority of them find it difficult to cope and they end up making terrible mistakes.

A question comes to mind: What is it that South African families teach – or neglect to teach – their children about teenage sex and sexuality?

Sadly, the tragic story of Zinhle will continue to play itself out daily in the lives of many young girls who find themselves in a similar situation.

Otherwise, simply bring back all the gogos and mkhulus idling away their time at old age homes to teach and educate us about the youth and morality.