Gauteng government rewards excellence
Maja among the 16 100 bursary recipients
AT home in his family’s one-room shack, Kopano Maja studied hard for his matric examination last year. He didn’t let poverty hold him back.
He shared the room with his younger sister and mother, who works as a cleaner in Soweto. The shack, in Moletsane in the giant township, was partitioned with a curtain. One part was occupied by his mother and his younger sister.
Maja had hoped that a matric pass at Seanamarena High School would enable him to find ways to help his mother escape the indignity of gruelling poverty. He obtained two distinctions — in accounting and Sotho — and level six passes (from 70 to 79%) in economics and business studies.
The excellent results earned him a coveted spot in the Gauteng Matric Class of 2016. He was one of the top learners from the quintile of schools in poor areas. But Maja’s success also meant the beginning of a new stress — the idea that he had to look for a job in a tough labour market.
Though he had dreamt of studying accounting at the University of the Witwatersrand, he had no idea how to turn the dream into reality. “I was preparing to look for a job. I was prepared to take anything, a cashier job or anything. I was very stressed,” recalls the 19-year-old.
“My mother was struggling. I was hoping to help her instead of depending on her small income.” While he was stressing, he received a call from his school informing him about a message from the Gauteng government. It was music to his ears: he had been awarded a bursary to study a BComm in accounting at Wits.
Now, when he’s not attending classes or studying at the library, he is at his student residence in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. “I spend most of the time studying until late at night. I don’t want to waste this opportunity,” he says.
Maja adds that the bursary has only two strings attached to it: 40hour community development work in his first year of study, and a consistent pass for him to continue to receive the scholarship until he finishes his studies.
The conditions are a clear indication that the Gauteng government is not interested in dishing out bursaries for the sake of it. It rewards excellence. Bursaries are linked to the province’s economic development needs, including production of scarce skills in science and commerce, the commitment to fight poverty and the imperative to inculcate a culture of giving back to the community.
The provincial government’s spending on bursaries, learnerships and internships will increase to R1billion over the next two years. The government’s two-year review report makes it clear that there is a concerted effort to increase the scarce and critical skills by investing in a bursary scheme which provides funding to the top three performers in nofee-paying Gauteng schools.
With a full tuition scholarship and the additional support he receives from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, Maja has a bright future to work towards.
He is one of the 16 100 learners who have benefited from the scheme. So far, R880-million worth of bursaries to study at universities and TVET colleges have been awarded.
The government recognises that it needs to create sustainable partnerships to speed up the skills revolution. The partnership with the NGO sector has led to a contribution of over 180 bursaries funded by Sector Education and Training Authorities to support learners in Gauteng.
For the 2015/2016 financial year, R218-million was spent on the project. “More funding will be sourced from partners to support our students studying in various fields such as education, accounting, engineering and science,” the Gauteng government report promises.
The Gauteng government is also collaborating with a number of other countries and organisations which have contributed to funding and exposed our youth to studies abroad to diversify their skills and experience. Several students have had opportunities to study in countries such as Russia, Turkey and Italy.