-
A sign written unemployment.
The Basic Education Employment Initiative which advertised work opportunities for 245 000 young people across 23 000 schools in 2023 has reportedly not yielded the desired results.
This is according to youth unemployment advocacy group, Youth Capital, which says that more than 1.5 million young people had applied for opportunities when the initiative was announced.
The organisation says the funds for the programme have not been released since 2023.
“We are in limbo at the moment with the Basic Education Employment Initiative, what is usually called the school assistant programme, because last year, we had written to the UIF, and the UIF was supposed to release the funds. The presidency and the Department of Basic Education got into an agreement that the programme last year was going to be subsidised by the funds from the UIF, because the UIF has a surplus of funds, and they were going to redirect those funds into this programme. However, that did not happen, meaning that the programme was not rolled out last year. More than 245 000 young people were denied work opportunities,” says mobiliser and strategist for Youth Capital Nape Senong.
The programme saw youth gaining experience as education assistants and general school assistants.
VIDEO | Unemployment currently stands at 32.1% in South Africa:
