A student from Stellenbosch University (SU) recently launched an organisation designed to provide career counselling and guidance to Grade 9 learners in disenfranchised township high schools.
The Wide Awake Movement (WAM) was launched on 27 May at Mfuleni Technical Academy, a high school in Cape Town.
“[Grade 9] is pivotal for learners, as they are tasked with the responsibility of choosing their subjects, a decision that has the potential to shape their entire future,” said Nonkosi Matinise, the founder of WAM and an SU PhD student in chemistry.
The Wide Awake Movement offers several programs to Grade 9 learners once a week over the course of two years. Namely, a career education program, a job shadowing program, a tutoring program, and a bridge the gap program. This is according to Nonkosi Matinise, WAM founder and SU chemistry PhD student. GRAPHIC: Aiden Louw
WAM will operate continuously, aiding learners with their subject and career choices once a week for two years through their different programs, said Matinise.
A want for WAM
“There is absolutely a strong need for [WAM] at [Mfuleni Technical Academy],” said Sipho Majozi, the vice principal at Mfuleni.
“One of the biggest obstacles we deal with when it comes to our children is that they don’t believe it is possible for them to go to university,” said Majozi.
He claimed that once students reach matric, they feel defeated because they had not chosen their subjects in Grade 9 with their career goals in mind.
Mfuleni Technical Academy was launched in 2021 as a response to the growing need for high schools in Mfuleni, said Sipho Majozi, the vice principal of the school. “It’s important at this early stage to make sure the students find their strengths and are steered in the right direction,” he said. PHOTO: Aiden Louw
Majozi said that the school needed more than Life Orientation to assist the students with their subject choices.
“In a school day you have a curriculum which is very prescribed so to deviate from that is really difficult. So, to get some external help would definitely have a good impact,” stated Majozi.
Social awareness
“It is important to do work like this in the community,” said Aviwe Ntsabo, WAM facilitator, program coordinator and SU alumnus.
WAM is self-funded and, because of this, is only partnering with Mfuleni Technical Academy, said Ntsabo. He added that they would like to collaborate with more schools in the future, depending on the success of their current partnership.
Nonkosi Matinise, founder of the Wide Awake Movement, and her business partner, Aviwe Ntsabo, talking to a group of Grade 9 learners at Mfuleni Technical Academy on 27 May about how the organisation will help them in making informed subject choices. PHOTO: Aiden Louw
Matinise, a Mfuleni local, said that it was important that the students worked hard to create better opportunities for themselves.
According to Matinise, many black people associate intelligence with whiteness. In Xhosa, she said that the word ‘umlungu’ (meaning ‘white’) is used to describe something smart. Matinise said that this needs to change.
WAM was inspired by the black consciousness movement, according to Matinise and, as such, incorporates the belief that black students, professionals and intellectuals need to be united and liberate themselves.
“We all have a purpose, but we just need to discover it. [WAM] is going to help you to do that,” said Matinise to a group of Grade 9 learners on 27 May.