frayintermedia, SANEF & The Press Council exhibited at the the Fibre Processing & Manufacturing SETA Career Summit that took place on 29-30 October 2018 at Gallagher Convention Centre.
More than a thousand learners from Thembisa, Ivory Park and Winnie Mandela high schools were in attendance.
fp&m SETA CEO Felleng Yende said the mandate in relation to the Skills & Career summit was to reach out to township schools, semi-urban schools & informal settlement-based schools to have industry experts talking to them about different businesses and the different techniques that could be applied.
“We also decided that we wanted to link to the entire concept these exhibitions so that learners can come and interact with businesses at an operational level and at a more practical level,” she added.
Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor was among several prominent speakers making an address on the first day. During her address to the scholars she said university and college students should be provided with training programmes that have some relationship with the skills required in the workplace.
fp&m SETA CEO Felleng Yende urged the learners to add to the number of young millionaires.
Pandor believes students shouldn’t only be trained for employment but to also run their own entities: “In order to bridge the gap that exists between education, training spaces, employers and entrepreneurship, government has established SETAs which are organised into different sectors.”
They were encouraged to seize the opportunities made available to them by asking as many questions as possible towards the exhibitors.
Printing SA CEO Steve Thobela encouraged the learners to find out more about the training programmes offered by the industry.
In his address, he provided the learners with information about the career opportunities in the print industry as he felt that very little is known about it.
Mr Emmanuel Bonoko, who is a social entrepreneur and founder of the Bonoko Foundation, encouraged the learners to have self-belief and to have powerful conversations with themselves.
“Many young people aren’t performing well because they lack belief in themselves,” he said.
He added that one need not seek validation from others in their journey towards their goals.
Deputy Minister of Higher education Buti Manamela did a walkabout to see some of the exhibitions.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, spoke on the second day about progress towards meeting the goals of South Africa's National Development Plan and the next steps government would take to increase their reach.
Manamela said they’ve turned around the TVET sector, from a mere 150 000 students in the last 10-15 years 700 000 students today. He said they have expanded the university sector and have increased the number of black South Africans and young women going to universities.
He said there was still a throughput range challenge both in the university and TVET sector he believes that overtime there would be an improvement and more young people who go to universities and TVET colleges actually pass.
“We also have to deal with the kind of graduate we produce in our institutions, as we not only want to produce graduates who will pursue jobs but those who will become entrepreneurs and create employment,” said the deputy minister.
Frayintermedia together with SANEF and the Press Council interacted with the learners by informing them about journalism, its importance and the education opportunities available in the industry.
Some of the exhibitors who participated were David Tlale, Thula Sindi, BANKSeta, UNISA, Nestle and several learning institutions.
