Elijah Mhlanga, the spokesperson for the Basic Education Department, stated that many people qualified for the BEEI Teacher Assistant Initiative but were not accepted.
“There are limited resources and this initiative is meant to provide opportunities to a specific group of people,” said Mhlanga.
Out of the 950 000 applications in Phase 2, only 287 000 were accepted even though the majority of the applicants met the requirements.
Mhlanga reminds applicants that the initiative is not employment, but that it is a short term opportunity geared towards providing young people with skills.
The initiative was introduced to assist those who have no other opportunities available to them, which include those not in education, not in employment, not in training.
“If you are studying go ahead and study but understand that you don’t meet the requirements of this initiative,” said Mhlanga.
The Department of Basic Education stated that they are continuing to host workshops across provinces with all stakeholders to raise awareness about the standard operating procedures to minimise the systemic challenges in the programme.
Mr S Padayachee, the Deputy Director-General of Basic Education, mentioned that “Many EAs from past phases had found gainful employment or enrolled for further studies.”
“Over half a million young people appointed as education assistants, making it the largest youth employment programme ever undertaken in our history,” said Cyril Ramaphosa in SONA.
