In its fifth year, the R10 million Paarl Media bursary scheme, launched in 2008, is administered as a perpetual fund, aimed at students who are interested in studying at the University of Stellenbosch, University of Western Cape, Cape Peninsula University of Technology or Elsenburg Agricultural College.
The new students are Helene Steyn, Hettie van der Walt, Nicol Vermeulen, Nicholas de Villiers, Xenel Williams and Zani le Roux.
Lambert Retief, non-executive chairman of Paarl Media, explains, "The successful recipients were selected by the board of trustees based on financial need, academic performance to date, relevancy of the selected course and demonstrated leadership and community involvement."
With ten students in their final year, he highlighted that the bursary is not restricted to undergraduate studies. "We have two students who we will continue to support for further study towards their honours next year."
The SABC, in partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training through National Skills Fund (NSF), and MICT-SET, held a graduation ceremony to honour the students who have successfully completed the internship and learnership programs, as well as staff members who received bursaries.
The internship and learnership programs commenced on the 1st of February 2011 and learners were placed at the Auckland Park office as well as in the various SABC offices in the respective provinces. The duration of the programme was for 12 months for learnerships (58 learners) and 10 months for internships (204 learners) as well as 17 employees in the SABC, who studied at various institutions, representing various fields.
The SABC has extended the internship contracts until end of March 2012. This will provide the interns a further opportunity to accelerate their learning and gain more skills and knowledge.
To date, the organisation has absorbed 20% of the students from the programme, in areas such as technology and news.
The project is geared towards contributing to the reduction of unemployment and increase skills levels through the implementation of the internship and learnership programmes.
