Learners have been encouraged to identify their skills and talents while also exploring income-generating opportunities.
Guidance and Counseling Officer from the North West Regional Education Office, Mercy Peloewetse has said employment opportunities are limited and far less than the number of graduates, encouraging learners to study hard and acquire skills that would enable them to be self-employed instead of looking for non-existing jobs after school.
She said this at a career expo hosted recently by Botoka Foundation, a non-governmental organisation aimed at improving the livelihoods of Ngamiland rural communities through educational support. The expo was held under the theme ‘Pathways to success: learn, connect, thrive,’ targeting Form 3s and Form 5s from schools in Maun.
“Identify your talents and turn them into income generating talents, if you have the skill then go for it,” advised Peloewetse. She added that no job is too dirty if it is legitimate and further advised learners to keep an open mind and allow themselves to be led.
Learners were also has encouraged to consider Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges (TVET) as their alternative to university education as white collar jobs are now saturated.
In his motivational speech, a community representative, Tiego Mpho also advised learners to recognise, identify their talents and develop them in order to become future leaders.
“God has put talent in each one of you, therefore the purpose of the career expo is to open up your mind and help you see what is available for you so that you can realise what you are interested in. This will then enable you to develop and magnify that talent that you have,” Mpho added.
For her part, Founder of Botoka Foundation, Nthati Phoi said the initiative of a career expo came after the realisation that children in the region have very little exposure to other careers. “There is a wide variety of careers besides tourism and what they already know, such as teaching, nursing, general medicine, defence and security, which we want to expose them to,” Phoi said.
She said their aspiration as Botoka Foundation is to help their beneficiaries to uncover their passions, provide an opportunity for them to explore and understand the diverse opportunities available.
She added that the aim is also for the beneficiaries to ultimately make informed decisions about their future. She further stated that the purpose of the expo was to empower, educate, motivate and widen perspectives of the learners. “Our aim is to show learners that there is a whole world out there that they are unaware of,” stressed Phoi.
