Phase One of the Education Assistant Programme was successfully implemented from the 1st of December 2020 until the 31st of April 2021.
In the Basic Education Sector, approximately 300 000 young people participated in the initiative. Youth between the ages of 18 and 35 took part in the initiative.
These individuals were placed at schools as education or general assistants.
The DBE is also offering training to these young people in various areas such as ICT support, child and youth care workers, reading champions, infrastructure maintenance, and sports and enrichment agents.
Lerato Precious Tonie, an educator assistant, stated that she gained a lot of experience from this initiative and was able to use her background in psychology to connect with the learners and also help them.
The initiative inspired her to study for a degree in Education which will allow her to pursue a career in the education field.
Finding work after she graduated in 2018 was quite difficult, however, she believes that through the programme she was able to find a career she truly enjoyed.
