The Durban University of Technology (DUT) Student Representative Council (SRC) recently collaborated with the Student Recruitment Department in a project aimed at providing career guidance, donating school uniforms, and shoes to disadvantaged high school learners in rural areas.
The SRC initiated the project after identifying numerous issues affecting learners in basic education level especially in rural and township schools. Over the years, the DUT SRC have made observations that prospective students from underprivileged backgrounds typically encounter numerous issues during the registration period, these include;
· The fact that some of them lack the necessary admission point scores (APS) to enroll in university.
· Prospective students applying for programmes they did not want to take,
· Prospective students not completing the application process, some did not have email addresses, and others applied but did not complete the required steps.
In an effort to improve the situation and assist prospective students, the DUT SRC along with the Student Recruitment Department embarked on a drive to help learners better understand the application process. The second aspect of the project deals with the most prevalent problem in underprivileged schools affecting learners from disadvantaged families, is lack of confidence emanating from the fact that they don’t have proper and quality uniforms like their peers. Understanding the situation and that a learner’s confidence has a great influence on how well they perform at school, the SRC decided to lend a helping hand by purchasing new school uniforms and shoes for underprivileged learners.
The SRC Plan/Programme Of Action (POA’s) dedication to supporting rural communities served as the driving force behind all of this. When drafting its POA in February, the SRC discussed this topic of giving back to the learners in underprivileged backgrounds. The SRC Project Officer worked hand in hand with Student Recruitment and Student Governance.
“The DUT SRC chose to work closely with Student Recruitment and assist high school students from rural backgrounds who are applying to the universities of their choice as well as providing career guidance. We also decided to help the Mshiyane High School, Hafuleni High School, Mlotshwa Secondary School, Ndengetho High School, Ntee Secondary School, and the Dick Ndlovu High school learners by purchasing school uniforms and school shoes for them,” said Snethemba Shozi: SRC Projects Officer.
The visit to the underprivileged schools around Durban, took about a week. The present SRC’s term will shortly come to an end, but they are hoping that the incoming SRC would be interested to continue with this project which is in line with the DUT ENVISION2030. The outgoing SRC has also extended its helping hand, to be involved in future student recruitment activities as former student leaders.
The feedback received from the project was that some students lacked access to career advising information because some DUT programmes had already closed. It was also established that learners at these particular high schools didn’t even have email addresses, and not a single student had submitted their applications to any university.
Most research was conducted before deciding which schools to donate to and it was ultimately decided on those that are located in remote, underdeveloped places with few resources around Durban. The DUT SRC feels this initiative will help many students, and during the registration period, DUT will have fewer students who will arrive with problems related to not meeting the minimum requirements, students who do not have CAO numbers, and students who do not have funding. They added that if Student Recruitment and all incoming SRC leadership could make this project mandatory, the registration process for first year students will become more smooth through education on the processes.
DUT SRC members gave insight into the project, saying that while embarking on this project DUT gave them enough support, especially the Registrar, Dr Maditsane Nkonoane and the Dean of Students, Dr Clement Moreku.
“We appreciate DUT Student Recruitment for their successful cooperation and we hope all the high school learners benefited from our visit and from the SRC. We wish all learners good luck with their trials and final exams and hope to see them at DUT next year,” said Mr Alex Mdletshe, Student Recruitment Manager at DUT.
Pictured: Some SRC members and learners and teachers from Ndengetho High School.
Nomvelo Zulu
