Premier urges youth to grab opportunities
NORTHERN Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas has urged the youth to pursue and grab opportunities in order to advance their future.
Lucas highlighted this message during the 41st Youth Day commemoration held in Jan Kempdorp on Friday.
She urged the youth to practice the same resilience as the youth of 1976 who fought against the apartheid state.
“The class of 1976 reshaped the course of history, they demonstrated their unwavering commitment for a just South Africa and therefore we need to preserve their legacy by taking advantage of the opportunities provided by government,” Lucas said.
She said that there are a number of programmes available to the youth to realise their dreams and aspirations.
“In terms of education and training, there is the National Norms and Standards for funding Technical Vocational and Educational (TVET) Colleges. This intervention affords each student that is enrolled in a state-funded programme, to be subsidised by the state at 80 percent of the total programme cost. We further introduced the TVET College Bursary Scheme to cover the remaining 20 percent for those academically deserving students who are financially needy, to ensure that they gain access to education and training opportunities in TVET colleges.
“We continue to provide access to about 600 students to ensure that the doors of quality education remain open to our youth through the Northern Cape Premier’s Bursary Trust and other government bursary schemes.”
Lucas added that there are also programmes to equip the youth with the skills they need.
“The majority of young people lack the technical skills to access employment opportunities, hence this year we launched the Youth Skills Development Programme. The Provincial Youth Skills Development Programme emanates from the Provincial Youth Summit held in Upington last year. Four hundred learners are currently being trained in the programme and we intend to upscale this programme to ensure more young people form part of this skills revolution.
“We should also bear in mind that it remains our collective responsibility as government, the private sector and civil society to address the challenges facing our young people. Our role is therefore to ensure that we create space and opportunity for young people to develop their untapped potential and help us achieve radical economic transformation,” she said. EDUCATED: Children from Lerato Park were treated to a movie and history lesson on Youth Day. Bancedeni Ngabantu, a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) in the area, educated them on the significance of of the day.