​Teboho
Matshatsha




In an effort to
encourage young people in the province to pursue careers in the Health
Sciences, the Gauteng Department of Health yesterday initiated a session
between National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and Sekano Ntoane
Secondary School in Soweto.


The objective
of the visit which was conducted together with the Department of Education and
Economic Development was to help pupils to register online and also offer them
information on all the procedures to follow when applying for financial
assistance.


“MEC Bandile
Masuku made a commitment during the National School Health Week to assist
learners to register online. Learners will be able to go and study in the
higher institutions without any financial struggles. We also encourage learners
to consider careers in the Health Sciences to assist with the global shortage
of health care workers”, said Portfolio Coordinator for Youth Development in
the office of the MEC Kamogelo Goseitsiwe  


“NSFAS offers
an opportunity for learners to access any public higher institution of their
choice. It understands that some learners are not privileged enough to afford
education in these institutions, hence NSFAS covers intuition fees, food and
accommodation with zero interest to pay in the future,” said NSFAS representative
Tshepo Nkosi.


Deputy
Principal Goodman Mashinini said that it is overwhelming that one of the
school’s former learners Dr Bandile Masuku is lending a hand to the school. “This
serves as a motivation to our learners that they can be able to make it as well
regardless of the challenges they encounter on a daily basis. We have set a
benchmark as a school that we want to achieve more than 90% matric pass rate
this year and internal programmes were implemented to reach the target”.


“Some of us
come from poor backgrounds and don’t have access to internet. We are very happy
for such initiative and help that we got from everyone who was involved. Now we
know that we are on the system and our documents are uploaded and we can
prepare ourselves for next year,” said Lesego Hadebe, a matriculant at the
school.