On April 22, the team from the Zakhele Foundation (Zakhele Xulu, Siyabonga Dlamini and Njabulo Mamba) visited Muziwesizwe High School in Paulpietersburg (eDumbe) in the Bilanyoni area, under the leadership of principal Mr AF Mdlalose.
They were warmly welcomed and introduced to the Life Orientation teachers to work closely with them when addressing the learners about career information. All the Grade 12 learners gathered in the school hall for the presentations.
Mr Zakhele Xulu introduced himself to the learners and placed emphasis on the following aspects:
– The importance of having your own email address as an individual. He asked if they all knew what an email address was, because he said you can’t assume that everyone knows and has one.
– Due to the ‘fourth industrial revolution’, storage tools like USBs, CDs and DVDs are no longer ‘cutting edge’ to keep your personal documents. He spoke about online storage as a better tool to keep your documents safe and accessible anywhere.
– There are 26 public institutions in South Africa, so a learner can enroll anywhere in South Africa without any fear, because all these institutions have access to accommodation facilities (residences) and also funding (NSFAS). Due to the increasing number of students that wish to enroll, while the number of residences are limited, they have come up with the OFF campus innovation to accommodate larger volumes of students in the system.
He also emphasised the importance of applying early to avoid late applications and walk-ins. “According to mark levels in South Africa, they range from 1-7. If a learner obtains over 90% in a particular subject, according to the Admission Point Score, that learner scores eight points because 90-100% is classified as A+. Some courses are selective courses, so apart from having outstanding marks, other procedures need to be followed like the NBT (National Benchmark Test), a medical examination by a registered general practitioner (GP), while other courses require community involvement, auditions and portfolios. Education is not only designed for wealthy people; even vulnerable people can have access to education,” he said.
Mr Dlamini alluded to the importance of applying for NSFAS, because it is government funding that helps needy learners to study further. He also elaborated on the requirements issue. “The learner needs to understand the requirements of a particular course. For example, what are compulsory subjects and recommendation subjects for that course, Admission Point Score, duration of the course, and intake of the course? By knowing the requirements, it will make a student’s life easier, because he or she is working towards that specific goal.”
He advised learners to separate their courses by choosing some for a Degree as Plan A and some in Diploma as Plan B, and not invest all their eggs in one basket.
During the presentation, they were joined by Mr Ephraim Shabalala (FNB Paulpietersburg branch manager), who arranged to come to the school through the principal’s approval. He mentioned the importance of having a bank account while studying and opened some bank accounts on site, with the cards to be collected at the branch. He also spoke about the requirements in order to open a valid bank account. They are:
Name of Bank – FNB
Type of Account – Easy Zero Account
Smartphone
Airtime = minimum of R5
Proof of Residence
“The good news is that the Zakhele Foundation is in partnership with FNB at Paulpietersburg, Vryheid, Nquthu, etc, and through Vryheid Herald articles, we are now in partnership with Old Mutual for financial education,” Zakhele concluded.
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