280 000 Education and general assistants have been appointed to work at schools across South Africa through the second phase of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) and the Basic Education Employment Initiative which aims to mitigate the employment challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Department of Basic Education has now commenced the training programme for these assistants in order to prepare them to work with learners at the various schools from 1 November 2021 to 31 March 2022.
The training programme includes financial management, digital literacy, Microsoft office and technical skills for artisans modules.
PYEI Project Manager, Tsekere Maponya says that the initiative wants to prioritize the training of young people in this phase so that they may use these skills in the future.
The education assistants are made up of three categories namely: Curriculum Support, ICT/e-Cadres and Reading Champions. While the general school assistants are also made up of three categories namely: Child & Youth Care Worker, Handyman and Sports and Enrichment Assistants.
The assistants will receive training for the category they are appointed to and they will also have to complete 5 compulsory training areas which will help them to understand the National School Safety Framework (NSSF), what is needed from them in terms of attitude in the workplace and they will be required to familiarise themselves with the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures produced by the department. The other two compulsory training areas are financial literacy and digital literacy.
Maponya says that now that examinations have concluded at schools there is more time and space being allocated to the training of these young people.
The Education Department's spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga says that the department aimed to ensure that the assistants left the initiative with valuable experience and skills that would assist them with employment opportunities in the future.
