Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor says there’s an urgent need to raise awareness about education and skills development opportunities in communities across the country.
Pandor was speaking in Mitchells Plain during a skills and career exhibition expo to mark Youth Month.
Hosted by the Mitchells Plain Skills Centre and Education Forum the event is aimed at informing young people about the various options available to them.
Universities and TVET colleges are among the exhibitors at the Career and Skills Development Expo.
The Centre itself, offers learnerships to young people who could not access higher education.
Mitchells Plain Education Forum’s Colleen Daniels says: “There are tremendous problems in Mitchells Plain in terms of high teenage pregnancies, gangsters and substance abuse.”
The Higher Education Minister has welcomed the initiative.
She’s urged young people to investigate all available skills and training initiatives.
“Information is the first step towards empowerment. So I will say to young people, they need to really go out there and ensure that they find out who is available, who is offering programmes. There are programmes that provide skills training and also initiative where it’s from skills onto work or into entrepreneurship.”
Meanwhile, thousands of young people from across the Western Cape have attended a “Life Counts” programme at the Athlone stadium.
The programme will see vulnerable youth targeted with various empowerment activities in their own communities.
Young people wasted no time in expressing their concerns. Both events form part of Youth Month commemorations.
