30 May 2008

By Aviwe Mathebula and Sipho None

TAKE a Child to Work day started on a rosy note when more than 100 learners from Mogale City schools here taken on a day’s work experience in Mogale City’s departments.

The day comes from an idea by the cellphone company Cell C, which started the annual Take a Girl Child to Work day to widen career opportunities for girls to balance gender inequality in the workplace. It is aimed at giving learners an opportunity to get work experience, and prepare them for the future. In Mogale City, the organisers expanded the scope of the original idea and involved boys too.

On Thursday, 29 May, learners from Kagiso Senior Secondary, Mosuaptsela Senior Secondary, Townview, Jan de Klerk and Madiba among others, were mentored by City officials doing their days’ work.

Dee Dicks, the head of operations in the Speaker’s Office, and Antoinette Mtshelu, in the human resources department, applauded the initiative; however, they felt that one day of mentoring was not enough.

“The initiative is a good one in the sense that it allows young people to [spend time] in a formal working environment, where they can experience aspects of different departments,” Dicks said. “However, I feel that one day of mentoring is too little. I think it should be extended to a weeks’ work experience.

“Some of the children’s dreams are simple and others are more expensive. We want to raise funds for that cause and we hope that by so doing we will [be able to] fulfill some of their dreams,” De Beer said. “Because when you mentor a person you must … show them the positive and the bad side of your work, so that they get a feel of what is going on in the workplace.

Mtshelu shared Dicks’s views, saying that the initiative should last at least two to three days.

“This is an excellent initiative to give young people a feel of the workplace. This project gives the learners an opportunity to have a feel of what lies ahead of them when they complete matric. However, I think this should be extended to at least to two to three days,” she said.

Olivia Caldeiria, the housing portfolio head, stood in on behalf Executive Mayor Koketso Calvin Seerane. She said: “This noble idea gives the learners an opportunity to get hands-on work experience in various departments of our municipality. This allows them to get to know what our departments are doing. And it prepares them for the future.”

Linda van Dyk, the current Miss Mogale City and guest speaker, gave learners a word of advice. “I did not have the opportunity to go to university like other students. I had to pay for my studies. Most of you do not have the opportunity to go to institutions of higher learning, but I think that hard work will get you to greater heights.”

The Take a Child to Work day is a joint project of the Mogale City’s Employee Assistance Programme and its social development directorate. When asked about his career path, Remington Monama, a learner at Jan de Klerk High School, said: “I want to be an actuarial scientist because there is a shortage of such people. And this would assist the municipality in identifying risks in any project it would attempt to embark on.”

Mapule Masetle, of the social services directorate, said: “This idea will empower and expose the learners about the working environment, because they will have a feel of what is happening in our departments.”

As part of the activity, Aviwe Mathebula, a Grade 12 learner at Kagiso Senior Secondary School, was on a one-day work experience at Mogale City’s marketing and communications department.