June is honoured as Youth Month in South Africa paying tribute to learners who lost their lives during the 16 June 1976 Soweto uprising. To honour Youth Day 2015 the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has developed a programme to celebrate under the theme "Youth Action for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime". The question is how does one increase the number of youth reached as well as stretch into their communities to break historical boundaries to social and economic empowerment?
Lerato Bontsi
One example of how tertiary education is changing the lives and fortunes of South African youth is Lerato Bontsi, a 19-year-old youngster from George. Lerato is a student at the Tertiary School in Business Administration (TSiBA) which has two campuses - in Cape Town and Karatara, near Knysna. Despite her parents' lack of education, Lerato always imagined herself educated and she was determined to break her family's cycle of poor education and change their futures forever.
Lerato is studying business leadership and entrepreneurship at TSiBA, a non-profit tertiary business school founded in 2004. This institution is an innovative learning community that is graduating entrepreneurial leaders who ignite opportunity and drive social change. The idea being that people who have the opportunity to benefit from high-quality education will rise above their challenging circumstances, and in turn, will help other people to access quality education, and those people will help even more people... This phenomenon is transforming the lives not only of students, but their families and communities.
After school Lerato was initially accepted into various universities, but was unable to register due to lack of finances. When she heard she could apply for a scholarship to study business at TSiBA she jumped at the opportunity and was accepted, leaving behind many of her schoolfriends who are now either working, have children at home, or lack finances to study. Paying it Forward is a vital part of TSiBA's culture and ethos where students who are awarded scholarships are not required to pay back their education monetarily, but rather to pay it forward by transferring the knowledge, skills and resources that they gain at TSiBA back into their communities.
Lerato continues: "What makes TSiBA so unique is that it not only teaches academics, but also teaches students how to deal with practical life challenges and how to cope in social situations, which gives students a competitive advantage in the job market as employers are not only looking for someone competent with numbers, they want to know that you can represent their company and interact with other people."
Adri Marais, co-founder and CEO of TSiBA, explains, "People ask us where we find our talent. The reality is talent is in abundance in South Africa. Anyone can make a winner out of a winner, but if you can ignite opportunity for the general community, believe in their talent and nurture them you can develop something into greatness. Aside from TSiBA's excellent academic programme we also integrate the building of an individual's character - we call this the 'Profile of Graduateness'. TSiBA's achievements over the last ten years, across six degree cohorts, include seven Mandela Rhodes Scholars, three Kofi Annan Scholars and two Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Fellows."
Lerato speaks about the challenges facing our youth today saying that "the main challenges youth are facing today is not understanding that there are opportunities out there and sometimes it may be fear stopping them from going after their dreams. I know that now my level of education makes me different from others who haven't been exposed to the knowledge, practical skills, leadership and self-development that I have learned at TSiBA. If youth can grasp this they will be able to better manage their emotions, their fears and decision-making abilities.
"With South African youth faced with so many challenges today I am a strong supporter of youth projects and programmes aimed at empowering our youth. In our communities youth are often neglected and have no one that really cares about what happens to them. What is also special about TSiBA is that they facilitate a mentorship programme where each student is partnered with a mentor, usually an individual already successful in the business world, and also has life experience to share."
It appears that TSiBA may be onto something as this philosophy was mirrored by Minister Jeff Radebe at the National Youth Month launch Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) in August 2014: "The priority areas of youth development are employment creation, entrepreneurship support and skills development. By rapidly absorbing youth into the mainstream development of our country, we will have responded effectively to the fact that of the approximately 25% unemployed in South Africa, the vast majority are young people between the ages 15 to 35 years."
