When schools open for the second term Community Keepers, in partnership with education technology group Yenza, will offer free online career guidance and development. This project will reach over 18 000 learners from 28 schools in marginalised areas in the Western Cape.
Conversations around subject choices and encouragement to apply to study at tertiary institutions are a vital step for young people as youth unemployment soars. Access to input and wise counsel could play a significant role in the life path and future potential of learners.
“The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown measures, coupled with limited school hours, saw thousands of learners in the key years of Grade 7, 9 and 11 miss out on a critical opportunity to receive career guidance and to explore career options. Learners have been left feeling lost and alone,” said Community Keepers educational psychologists Amanda van der Vyver.
“During lockdown, Community Keepers made hundreds of personal phone calls to learners to encourage them and support them. We quickly filmed a series of short video conversations and loaded them onto our YouTube channel, in place of the workshops that we usually host each year. Then, during a FEDSAS (the national representative organisation for governing bodies of South African schools) online seminar, we met Jared Molko and jumped at the opportunity to work with him. We are excited to partner with Yenza who have developed an intuitive app for young people that is fun, data lite and highly interactive. Our learners are going to love it.”
As well as access to information and a range of easy to complete self-assessments, Yenza personalises the experience for each learner introducing them to a customised world of opportunity, best suited to their skills, talent and their interests. Another feature includes a carefully-constructed, professional CV which gives school leavers the edge when applying for their first job.
Yenza is a “Career Success Platform” and have developed what they call ‘Smart Career Technology’, which combines the latest in career development theory and algorithmic, data-driven science to automate personalised career pathway progression. Their platform is truly an end-to-end career solution.
Yenza members receive modernised assessments, employability tools, access to highly credible skills-based courses and job opportunities all within a single online platform. They are also the only careers platform to be multilingual so young learners, for whom English is not their mother tongue, are not disadvantaged in any way.
“We need to prepare learners for a new economy and to help them to believe that achievable opportunities exist and are within their grasp; and we need to do so without leaving anyone behind. Young people will need to be on top of their game and they are going to need a guide,” says Yenza Co-Founder and CEO Jared Molko.
“One of our core missions is making sure anyone, from any background, has an equal opportunity to reach their goals and achieve their dreams and we are proud to partner with Community Keepers and to sponsor free licenses for all learners from Grade 7 to matric at their partner schools. Learners will receive free lifetime access to Yenza and we look forward to being a part of each young person’s journey as they realise their potential.”
This programme will be rolled out in phases, starting at four schools in marginalised communities of Cape Town and the Cape Winelands.
