School career expos not only assist learners to plan their careers but help to inform young people of opportunities available to them, which they may not have known about. This is especially true for school learners in communities that are remote, such as Kenhardt in the Northern Cape, and don’t have easy access to information.
Recognising this, a recent career expo, for over one hundred Grade 11 and 12 learners from Kenhardt High School, took place to encourage this community’s youth to take ownership of their future. The event was spearheaded by Aries Solar Power, in collaboration with the Department of Education (Circuit and District), Kai-Garib! Local Municipality, Department of Social Development and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“The purpose for hosting this career day was to close a gap, when we noticed that learners from Kenhardt weren’t taking up our scholarship opportunities, mostly due to lack of information, but also a lack of interest in their future careers. Hence, we reached out to a broad spectrum of stakeholders to help create a career expo, to assist and encourage learners to take up opportunities for their future careers, such as applying to different institutions and making the right choices when choosing subjects at school,” said Harrisinah Theka, Economic Development Specialist at Aries Solar Power.
Participating institutions and training facilities were extensive, including: Department of Employment and Labour; Scholarly Network; Department of Social Development; SAPS; Ouma Mimis (Local Entrepreneur); Department of Education; Kathu Solar Park; Xina Solar; and Upington TVET College, in addition to Aries Solar Power.
Working to drive impactful and meaningful development within the Kenhardt community includes a number of programmes implemented by Aries Solar Power, encompassing a holistic approach to supporting of education. This comprises four streams to ensure that support is provided across all levels of education namely Early Childhood Development; primary school, high school and support for tertiary studies. Aries Solar Power has also conducted a needs analysis on the two schools in Kenhardt (Kenhardt High School and Kenhardt Primary School), and intends on sharing the report with key stakeholders in the community.
