Former DUT student Chicco Tivane, 23, has education and youth empowerment in his heart. Together with DUT Stratford Residence House Committee members, Student Recruitment and the Department of Student Housing; Tivane has embarked on a community engagement project aimed at imparting knowledge on tertiary application procedures and financial aid services available at DUT.
“We visit high schools in Ermelo in the Mpumalanga Province and career guide and motivate pupils to excel in their studies so that it will be easy for them to be accepted in any course they wish to study. We also distribute CAO (Central Applications Office) forms. We then inform pupils on the financial aid service and give out DUT prospectuses,” said Tivane.
When Tivane – who comes from Sun City Township in Ermelo – enrolled for a national diploma in Electrical Engineering in 2009, he saw a need to supply CAO forms to Matric pupils in Ermelo as information regarding this application prerequisite was relatively scarce there.
He too had encountered problems prior to his enrollment at DUT. So in 2010, he took ten CAO forms to Reggie Masuku Secondary High School, where he matriculated. His idea impressed the principal and teachers which encouraged him to drive the project further. Joining the Residence House Committee proved a perfect opportunity for Tivane to continue with this project.
Musa Mthalane, the Stratford Residence Advisor and House Committee member said Tivane’s project corresponded with the house committee’s vision to recruit more students for DUT. “There is no university in Mpumalanga and because there is no CAO office, we saw this as a great opportunity to inform high school pupils about applying using CAO forms. We also saw it as a great chance to market DUT and recruit more students for the institution,” Mthalane said.
Because the project was a huge success when four high schools were visited last year, Tivane said the house committee has increased the number of targeted high schools to 14 this year. The South African National Blood Service has come on board to educate Matric pupils on the importance of donating blood. Also lending a hand is the education sector of local government in Mpumalanga. Mthalane said the committee hopes to attract more organisations and sponsors in the future.
Tivane extended his gratitude to the DUT departments involved in this project. He also paid homage to Amandla Guesthouse in Mpumalanga for their support.
–Naledi Hlefane
Caption: L-R: Chicco Tivane (from DUT), Ayanda Mashinini, Sipho Mkhize (from DUT), Zinhle Nkosi and Musa Mthalane (from DUT). This picture was taken last year at Ithafa Secondary School, where the DUT students distributed CAO forms.
