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Education is meant to develop people for their role in society. Business as part of
the society co-defines the reality in which education needs to take place.
Business exists and functions on the basis of its own definition of reality and
therefore presents unique characteristics. Education therefore responds to
business, but also directs business through the tenet and content it delivers. In
the educational approach, provision should be made to prepare appropriate
competencies for a labour market. Entrepreneurship gets its definition from the
type of business reality to be addressed.

Education should stimulate economic growth although in the current


circumstance the demand for a skilled labour-force far exceeds the supply and
availability of skilled people. The career choices we make today have significant
implications against our future endeavours. Historically the African people in
particular blacks were highly disadvantaged in making career choices. They have
always being subjected to certain fields of career opportunities because of the
limiting apartheid government educational system.

Since the ANC victory in


the first democratic
elections in 1994, many
black South African
matriculants, previously
excluded from tertiary
education are gaining
access to educational
opportunities and thus
being exposed to a wide
variety of careers. The
rapid transformation
from the limiting
apartheid system which
DA is partially
responsible for to an open system introduced by the ANC led-government has
provided many opportunities to reach previously unattainable goals.

Young people leaving school and entering tertiary education may have
inadequate knowledge and insi ght to pursue appropriate educational
opportunities. One reason for this is the lack of adequate career counselling or
guidance available at disadvantaged schools. These factors then impact on the
ability of learners to make career choices and decisions.

Career counselling and guidance, especially for high -school learners is essential
for full exploitation of available opportunities. It is therefore vital that a student
entering tertiary education be equipped with the necessary skills to make
informed career decisions which are demanded by the labour market.
The word Engineering, Science and Technology were very foreign to many of our
people and one of the thing the apartheid governmentled by National Party
which is currently DA after being swallowed by De mocratic Party (DP)
successfully develop a perception that field of studies like Maths and Science as
very difficult subjects to make our people not to opt for such whilst in reality
such fields of study were not difficult as they are viewed. Many of you will agree
with me that Maths and Science was as difficult as our mind-set made it to be
and it was also as simple as our mind-set simplified it.
Many of our people because of being colonialised psychologically, they chose to
study in fields which will not enable them from enrolling in areas of scarce skills
which are highly employable like Artisan, Engineering, Science and Technology .
If we can make some research, you will realise that number of unemployed
graduates in South Africa are graduates who graduated from fields of study
which are highly over-crowded. Even after the new dawn of democracy in 1994,
we still have those learners who have adopted a midst that studies like Maths
and Science are difficult as a result this automatically channel matriculates to
the deep end of unemployment as they will not manage to enrol for most of the
areas of scarce skills as they will not meet the minimum requirements as
required by Further Education and Training Institutions (FET) or tertiary
institutions.

Currently in the labour market the supply-demand mismatches in the provision


of qualified graduates have reached serious proportions with adverse short,
medium and long-term consequences for economic growth, investment
mobilisation and socio-economic stability as most of them are qualified from
areas which are not of scare skills as a result it is difficult for them to be
consumed by the labour market .

Factors impinging on the unemployment of graduates could be two -fold,


resulting in the possible lack of institutiona l preparedness in catering for industry
needs, or inappropriate or inadequate quality of education. Labour market
signals of the above type tell a tale, too, of institutional misalignment between
players on the supply and demand side of the equation and bu siness.

These challenges are dominant especially to students from rural areas and
townships because of lack of proper career guidance and role models hence it is
important to those who have made it in their studies, to still go and plough back
to their communities through providing some career guidance to learners
especially those in Grade 8 to 9 before they find themselves in streams which
will lead them to further their studies in areas which will not assist them to find
employment. It will not hurt to spend an hour just sharing your experiences
which led to your success with these learners.Most of themare coming from
families which are leaving under the shadow of poverty and they have hopes in
their children completing their studies and getting a better job to better their
lives butwrong career choices therefore shut-down such expectations.

Some of you understand the right requirements which will enable learners to
qualify to study in certain field of studies which are part of the scarce skills. So it
will be important to share such with them at early stages of their studies to
guide them make right choices in terms of their career streams. In doing so, you
will be taking many of our people out of poverty and therefore contributing in
liberating our people to ensure economic freedom in our lifetime. Let¶s put our
hands together as Economic Freedom Fighters who makes right career choices
which will liberate us and our people in the realisation of economic freedom in
our lifetime.

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