It is believed that the 2018 West Rand Career Exhibition at the Greenhills Stadium, where 31 exhibitors are providing information about various career paths, will attract an estimated 8 000 school learners.
The exhibition started on Tuesday, 13 March and will end on Friday, 16 March.
The Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners who are expected to visit the exhibition are predominantly from black, poorer communities.
Chris Ziranek, the vocational director of the Rotary Club of Krugersdorp said the purpose of the exhibition is to give options and guidance to the learners, which sadly are lacking in many black schools on the West Rand.
While the previously Model C schools are visited directly by the exhibitors, the poorer schools, which are predominantly black, do not have any career guidance at all.
“That is what this exhibition is about; it is offering the poorer black schools in Randfontein, Krugersdorp and as far as Carletonvillle this opportunity,” Chris explained.
He said even though they would prefer to offer information on a wider scope of careers, it is unfortunate that many of the companies that recruit people do not have the capability to participate as exhibitors.
“We rely on Setas, which is unfortunate because they also do not have money. We are actually battling to get exhibitors, but it is growing,” Chris said, also explaining that when the exhibition started, there was much enthusiasm in both black and white schools.
There was a period when there were problems recruiting certain organisations. “In 2010, only 4 000 learners attended. Fortunately, the Department of Education came on board to promote us and has helped us since then. In the past eight years attendance has doubled,” Chris said.
He ascribed it to a real need from the schools’ and the economy’s point of view to get the learners on board to prevent them from becoming just another lost generation.
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