The statistics are scary. A woman born in South Africa has more chances of being raped than learning how to read. Only about 14% of the total black population has a high school matriculation certificate. Although traditionally black and previously disadvantaged schools constitute about 80% of South Africa’s 7000+ secondary schools, these schools however produce only about 20% of the students who go on post high school to qualify for university, with an even lesser number of these students being able to access University for a number of reasons.
One would expect young South Africans born into such inequality and dire situation to be locked in a state of hopelessness and ineptness, yet a number of young South Africans who have made it to schools are going back to help lift, mentor and educate other young people out of their “previously disadvantaged” schools and straight into South Africa’s leading institutions of learning.
SimamkeleDlakavu, a 21 year old South African young woman and a graduate student in Political Studies at the University of Witwatersrand founded Sakha Ulutsha Lwethu (We Are Building Our Youth) in 2011 after what she saw as “the need to expose more learners from the same backgrounds” as her to more educational opportunities. Simamkele who hails from Ezibelini, a township in Queenstown, South Africa knows that “reality is that in South Africa, majority of rural and township students will never have the opportunity of entering the gates of institutions of higher learning to further their studies.”
There are a number of issues that contribute to this, and some include the unavailability of funding opportunities, lack of information or understanding as to how to seek funding for higher education studies, absence of career guidance councillors and what she calls the “inferiority complex [amongst some students] of believing that institutions of higher learning are only for those who come from privileged backgrounds” she says.
But it is not all doom and gloom, and Simamkele and the DADFund with their Sakha Ulutsha Lwethu flagship project will be running 25 workshops in 25 township and rural schools in what she and the DADFund says will be its ‘5 Days Of Impact’. ‘We want to say that furthering your studies and enrolling at institutions of higher learning are not exclusive to the well offs, students from deep rural and township schools too can make it. It is our aim to open their minds to all the possibilities within their grasp’, she says emphatically.
She further asserts that ‘we are seeking to ignite a passion for education, excellence and personal achievement within rural and township students through the encouragement of further education by sharing our own journeys. Our aim is to increase their matric pass rate so that more learners will be able to get into institutions of higher learning.’
The workshops will be focused on three main areas. It will focus on Grade 12 final matriculation class and will provide higher institutions of learning application forms, bursary and scholarship information and forms, financial aid forms and also study guides and other supplementary materials.
Secondly the workshops will also focus on Grade 11’s and will ‘Promote the value of academic excellence and make them aware of the importance of their final grade 11 year results for applying to university the following year.’
Thirdly, the workshops will also focus on Grade 9’s and will ‘provide awareness and assistance with regards to subject choices that have to be aligned with future choice of study as well as passion and ability while, also promoting the opportunity of a full scholarship at the African Leadership Academy.’
Simamkele notes that these workshops will be run and co-facilitated by university students who come from exact backgrounds as most of the scholars at historically disadvantaged South African schools for ‘this provides personal experience where students are able to relate to the facilitators because the facilitators themselves act as role models that the learners can truly relate to‘.
Other students who will be facilitating the workshop along with Simamkele include Candice AndisiweSehoma, 20 (a change driven lady residing in Alexandra township and a 2nd year psychology student studying with the University of South Africa), ThabithaNkuna, 22 (from BellingsgateGa-Mashashane, Limpopo and a current 3rd year in Social Work at Wits university) and NobesuthuZantsi, 22 (from Bisho, Eastern Cape, studying BCom Economics at Wits University and in her finals).
The Managing Director of the DAD Fund, EzlynBarends notes that the project is important because “the organisation has made significant inroads into youth development and empowerment arena as a social enterprise. This effort has led to the education of students, establishment of small businesses, skilling and experiential learning via internship programs and now the implementation of Sakha Ulutsha Lwethu. The Dad Fund is a firm believer in partnerships and collaborations and aims to connect with like-minded organisations and individuals to encourage the development and sustainability of programs to ensure the growth of an educated populace in South Africa and the rest of Africa.”
Stay with YouthHubAfrica for our in-depth exclusive interview with SimamkeleDlakavu next week and a follow up article on the events of the week. Find the DADFund on Twitter, Facebook or Website to follow the events of the ‘5 Days of Impact’.
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Reporting by Gcobani Qambela, Youthhubafrica South African Correspondent
