Johannesburg – City of Ekurhuleni is skilling its youth to be ready for the opportunities that come with its ambitious Aerotropolis Masterplan.
The city on Wednesday held the Godfrey M Pitje Academic Excellence Awards.
The administration celebrated 609 graduates including 20 from Breda University of Applied Sciences for academic year 2020 and the gallant matric class of 2020.
Executive mayor Mzwandile Masina said he has no qualms about investing huge sums of money into the education of the city’s youth.
“In my first year as executive mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni, we took a political decision to increase the mayoral bursary fund from R10-million to R100-million. We are alive to the reality that education is a catalyst for change,” Masina said.
“When this administration came into office, we were very clear of what we wanted to achieve, and we fully understood that we need to skill our young people for the jobs of the future. Over the past five years, the ANC-led coalition has spent R500-million educating about 9 000 students.”
The seven Breda University of Applied Sciences graduates who graced the event graduated with qualifications compatible with the skills the region needs as it unfolds its Aerotropolis Masterplan.
The qualifications range from degrees in logistics engineering, logistics management, entrepreneurship & supply chain. Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, MMC for finance and economic development, said the city’s investment in skilling young people would put the region in pole position to attract the much-needed investment.
“The field of logistics is very important to a region such as Ekurhuleni, the manufacturing hub of the continent. Aerotropolis remains the anchor of our regional economy,” Xhakaza said.
“The fact that we’re home to the biggest airport in the country, [that] we have railways in our space and major routes that are criss-crossing our space is a capability that we need to harness.
“That is why we sent out these young people to the Netherlands to study logistics and engineering to support the development of the Aerotropolis Masterplan.”
The City of Ekurhuleni houses the OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, the largest and busiest airport in Africa. At the core of the vision of the Aerotropolis Ekurhuleni is the desire to build prosperity for the city and the Gauteng City Region based on job creation.
One of the graduates from Breda is Cindy Dlamini from Kempton Park.
She graduated with a double degree: BSC in international logistics engineering and BSC in international logistics management. Dlamini said she was grateful for the opportunity provided by the city.
“The bursary was life-changing. I speak on behalf of al the Ekhurueni students who were sent to Netherlands when I say, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We cannot wait to give back to the community that has given us so much,” said Dlamini.
The Godfrey M Pitje Academic Excellence Awards, which are held every year to acknowledge and celebrate the municipality’s brightest minds, teachers and schools, also paid tribute to the matric class of 2020.
Masina said the class of 2020 held their own in an abnormal academic year.
“The migration to virtual or online learning exposed the extent of separate development in our country. While private schools could easily adapt to the new normal, a lot of our township and rural schools found it difficult,” said the executive mayor.
“Despite these difficult circumstances, our schools did us proud. We applaud teachers and learners who went beyond the call of duty to ensure that the academic project is not derailed by Covid- 19, and the schools that did their best to create a conducive learning environment in a world where even sitting directly next to another had become an impossibility.”
Masina made a special mention of Unity Secondary School in Daveyton, which was named the second best-performing township school with a pass rate of 90.8%.
Another school that performed well in the region is Thutopele Secondary School.
It received an award for the most improved school in Ekurhuleni for the 2019 academic calendar. Thutopele was in the top three best-performing schools in Ekurhuleni South – the best performing district in the municipality. Thutopele obtained a 92.81% matric pass rate for 2020 with at least 61 bachelors, 60 diplomas and 80 higher certificates.
The top three best-performing learners in Class of 2020 in Ekurhuleni are: Layla Germishuys (first place, Hoërskool Brandwag), Ruan Roodt (second place, Hoërskool Brandwag), Sifi so Ntikane (third place, Etwatwa Secondary School).
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