Johannesburg - The Department of Basic Education has announced the start of another phase of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative aimed at getting more young people into the labour market.
The initiative commenced on Wednesday with the target of creating 255 000 job opportunities for youth across the nine provinces.
The Department of Basic Education said the commencement of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative Phase IV was aligned with the beginning of the 2023 academic year and would provide an opportunity for the youth to be in schools at a critical time and period when they are needed.
The department indicated that the focus for Phase IV would be providing support to teachers to contribute towards improved learning outcomes while in the foundation phase it would ensure that a solid foundation is built for future learning.
“To this end, most of the youth will be working with educators in the classroom as curriculum assistants. Curriculum assistants are not teachers and are not required to teach, as teaching and assessment remains the responsibility of the teacher. Reading Champions will assist learners with reading, to ensure that they can read for meaning.
"E-Cadres will be required to assist with ICT integration in teaching and learning. In the past phases, schools have also used e-cadres to support administrative tasks,“ it said.
The department added that other categories would be Care and Support Assistants who would provide basic psychosocial support to learners.
“Sports and enrichment assistants will support the implementation of sports, arts and culture activities, handymen and women. Their main responsibility will be to help with the upkeep and maintenance of school buildings. All work that will be done by the youth will be supervised by a mentor,” it said.
According to the department, the 255 000 young people were split into two cohorts of 150 000 and 105 000 youth. It said the first cohort would start on February 1 with the second cohort of 105 000 starting on May 1, however, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape will appoint single cohorts each, starting on March 1 and February 1.
The department stated the following on how the 255 000 was split:
PROVINCE PHASE TARGET COHORT 1 COHORT 2
EC 40 100 8 642 31 458
FS 15 500 6 200 9 300
GP 40 000 24 600 15 400
KZN 58 500 58 500 0
LP 35 000 17 500 17 500
MP 22 000 7 200 14 800
NC 7 000 3 500 3 500
NW 16 000 4 000 12 000
WC 21 000 21 000 0
TOTAL 255 100 151 142 103 958
Furthermore, it said it would continue to monitor the impact of the PYEI-BEEI on the sector.
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