Kopano Monaheng
THE potential of our young people means nothing if they don’t get the support and the right opportunities.
This was evident when NTT DATA showered grade 11 & 12 pupils and students with awards during their Saturday school celebratory event held recently at Melrose Arch in Joburg.
These are the pupils who attended their Saturday School classes in Gauteng alone. They also have other Saturday classes in Qheberha, Eastern Cape.
Amanda Daly, senior director for careers and development at NTT DATA, said their company, which has been running the Saturday School programme for about three decades now, targeted pupils who are in grades 11 & 12 from under-resourced schools.
“It started as a very small programme. And it’s now grown into all of the STEM subjects, as well as English and Leadership,” said Daly.
She said year on year, it becomes more relevant in line with what the current trends are, for example, AI robotics.
Daly said these pupils have very little free time to just be a child in those two years that they spent with them.
Pupils are selected by the Department of Education, and the qualifying criterion is that the child must be passing but have an aggregate average of around 45 to 55%.
So the celebration on the day was not only for those that made it happen (the pupils), but also for their tutors, school principals and parents who motivated the pupils and made sure that they stayed on the programme.
The parents don’t get to just rest on a Saturday. They have to get up early to make sure their child is ready for school again. All year round, I think to see the clapping and the cheering and the celebration of the success is just so impactful. It’s a celebration that’s worthy of the celebration.”
They have 100 pupils that attend Saturday School classes. Fifty in Gauteng and the other fifty in the Eastern Cape.
But to increase the number of pupils in their schools, obviously they would need partners.
