Bright Techno Girl ready for the corporate world
VALUABLE EXPERIENCE: Sithembiso Ngubane, who passed matric with one distinction, is already familiar with the workplace. SITHEMBISO Ngubane’s knack for numbers landed her in a corporate office long before she finished high school.
While she was in Grade 9, the Noordgesig Secondary School teenager, with five of her peers, was selected to be part of the Techno Girls project which saw pupils being placed in the workplace.
The initiative was established by the Ministry of Women, Children and people with Disabilities, the UN Children’s fund (Unicef) and the Department of Basic Education.
The intention was to select schoolgirls from disadvantaged backgrounds and equip them with scarce skills in the maths, science, engineering and technology sectors.
Sithembiso is one of 4 000 girls nationwide that the programme aims to place through job- shadowing in companies where the pupils will be exposed to the work place in the scarce skills sectors.
Now having passed matric, she remembers her first day “at work” three years ago at a telecommunica- tions company Neotel, like it was yesterday. “I was nervous, especially after being separated from my peers,” she said.
“I never realised that being in a workplace would be such hard work… I thought people would be quietly sitting in their offices and doing their work, but we were literally running from meeting to meeting. It was exhausting.”
By the end of each day, Sithembiso had to write a report and give feedback on what she had learnt that day. She did this for one week during each of her school holidays until she finished school.
Among other things, her labours also gained her a computer course certificate.
“I learnt a lot about telecommunications technology and I know what to expect in the workplace.”
Sithembiso said as much as she enjoyed what she did at Neotel, she hopes to pursue her studies in biochemistry and radiography.
Sithembiso who passed the exam with one distinction wants to be a medical doctor and open her own practice.