South32 marks Youth Day in South Africa

South Africa marks Youth Day on 16 June, the anniversary of the Soweto youth uprising in 1976 where young people fought for equal education.  

While we commemorate this day and celebrate Youth Month, we also recognise the many challenges young people still face today with access to education and employment opportunities.  

That is why it is so important that our operations in South Africa support hundreds of young people each year to realise their potential through education programs, bursaries, scholarships and employment and training opportunities.

We currently have more than 300 young people on our bursary scheme, who receive financial help for their studies throughout university. In the last year, we have employed 93 graduates, taken on ten students on vacation placements and have provided hundreds of young people, including learners with disabilities from our local communities, with the opportunity to learn operational and technical skills through our training programs. 

In the Northern Cape, our South Africa Manganese operation has worked with the Sector Education Trust, the Department of Education and Joe Morolong Municipality on the Star Schools project. The project is an educational program that works with students in grades 10-12 to improve their performance in English, maths and physical sciences, by providing support in subject tuition, life skills, career guidance and applications to post-school opportunities. Results have significantly improved this past year with a 100 per cent pass for one of the groups, and a 98 per cent pass rate for those learners taking their matric exams.  

We are also working with Symphonia for South Africa on its ‘Partners for Possibility’ program, which looks at how local businesses can work with school principals to improve social cohesion, and help the most vulnerable schools survive the COVID-19 pandemic and thrive again in the months following the outbreak. 

We’ll be sharing more information about our bursaries and other opportunities in late 2020. 

To find out more about becoming part of our team, visit our careers page:

https://www.south32.net/people-careers/work-with-us.