KZN spends R1.5-billion on bursaries

KZN PREMIER Senzo Mchunu, in partnership with local government, has to date allocated and spent more than R1.5-billion toward bursaries in their mission to promote access to education and youth development programmes.

As today (Monday) marks Youth Day, the KZN Executive Council met to reflect on the progress of government in respect of youth development.

‘The people of KZN, especially the youth, are our greatest resource,’ said Mchunu.

‘It is critical that the talent and potential of our youth is fully developed and harnessed, so that we can guarantee the continuous socio economic development of our province.

In doing so, we will ensure that we deal decisively with the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality,’ he said.

Over the past five years, the provincial government has spent more than R1, 5-billion on bursaries awarded to needy students.

More than 7000 students have benefitted from the bursary programme.

‘We are committed to ensuring that our programmes on skill and youth development are strengthened.

There has been a strong focus on scarce skills such as engineering, science and technology, accounting, information technology, agriculture, health and social services,’ he said.

‘There were more than 1 954 students from poor families who benefitted from financial support provided by the provincial government at a cost of R54-million during the 2013 academic year,’ he added.

Graduates

There are 7 653 provincial graduates, some of which are currently studying.

The budget to fund these students in 2014/2015 is R20, 647,000.

Over the past four years, there have been more than 4 000 interns who have worked for various provincial government departments costing government more than R100-million.

Through the Premier’s Priority Projects working with the Department of Education; students with disabilities have been recruited and given bursaries and also trained, some of which are registered at the University of Zululand.