Wednesday marked the beginning of Phase IV of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), also known as the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI).
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Department of Basic Education explained that the initiation of Phase IV coincides with the start of the 2023 academic year and gives an opportunity for adolescents to attend school at a time when they are most needed.
This follows the successful implementation of Phases I through III, during which over 850 000 young employment opportunities were generated.
Phase IV aims to create 255 000 employment opportunities for adolescents across the nine provinces. The 255 000 are divided into two cohorts of around 150 000 and 105 000 young people, respectively.
The first cohort began on 1 February 2023, followed by the second cohort of 105 000 on 1 May 2023. KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, on the other hand, will each appoint a single cohort beginning on 1 March and 1 February 2023, respectively.
“The PYEI-BEEI capitalizes on the fact that there is a public school in every community in South Africa, which enables the government to provide employment possibilities to the most vulnerable young, who would otherwise have to leave their communities to obtain opportunities.
“Inclusion is therefore a central pillar of the campaign. In a similar spirit, schools have been pushed to provide possibilities for youth with impairments and to recruit more women,” the DBE stated.
According to the department, schools have also been instructed to prioritize students from the surrounding villages. This eliminates the need for them to pay for transportation between their homes and the schools where they will be working.
Phase IV of the PYEI strives to equip youngsters with the soft and hard skills required in the workplace.
“The objective of Phase IV is to assist educators in contributing to enhanced learning outcomes. To this purpose, the majority of the kids will serve as Curriculum Assistants in classrooms.
“Curriculum Assistants are not teachers and are not obligated to teach, as instruction and evaluation remain the teacher’s job. Reading Champions will assist students in reading so that they can comprehend what they read, according to the DBE.
The department stated that the emphasis will be placed on the Basis Phase to guarantee that a solid foundation for future learning is established.
E-Cadres will be required to aid in the incorporation of ICT into teaching and learning. Schools have utilized e-Cadres in the past to assist with administrative tasks.
More opportunities
Care and Assistance Assistants will give learners with basic psychosocial support; sports and enrichment assistants will support the implementation of sports, arts, and cultural activities; and handymen and women will assist with the care and maintenance of school buildings.
To achieve this objective, the Department and provincial education departments will collaborate with other partners.
NEMISA will teach Digital Literacy, the University of Johannesburg will teach Artificial Intelligence in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and Digify Africa will teach Online Safety.
Additionally, MTN and Anglo American have offered help for the training of Curriculum Assistants and e-Cadres, respectively.
In the meanwhile, numerous non-governmental organizations will train Reading Champions under the umbrella of the National Reading Coalition.
The training for handymen will include painting, tiling, plastering, and plumbing, among other skills.
In Phase IV of the project, the department will strengthen its efforts to raise assistants’ awareness of inclusive education.
“Assistants will be required to receive training on inclusive education in order to understand that students with disabilities should be treated equally with other students in their schools and communities,” the DBE said.
The DBE stated that the second phase of the training will focus on educating youngsters placed in special schools around the nation, with the goal of empowering them to give the necessary supplementary support to increase learner participation and school inclusion.
“The third phase of this training will focus on giving skills to disabled assistance working on the project. The agency will continue to seek out suitable partners to give kids with training and exit routes.
The agency emphasized that training is vital for upskilling youth, while also providing many exit pathways to guarantee that youth may build on their PYEI-BEEI-acquired employment experiences and abilities.
Pathways to other opportunities will help ensure that adolescents remain actively engaged and contribute positively to society, according to the DBE.
National Project Manager Lala Maje stated, “The department welcomes all youth to the PYEI-BEEI and encourages them to take full advantage of the opportunities they will receive during their contract period. These job opportunities can catapult them to even greater things and allow them to grow as professionals.”
The Department of Basic Education will continue to track the sector’s response to the PYEIBEEI.
– SAnews.gov.za
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