When 19-year-old Wandile Sitandatu trekked more than a 100km from Kei Mouth to Tsolo earlier this year, he had just one goal in mind – to become an animal health technician. He successfully registered for a three-year diploma at the Tsolo Agriculture and Rural Development College, but had no money and harboured little hope his unemployed mother would be able to afford the R20000-a-year tuition for the course.
However, everything changed for the better yesterday when he and 49 other students at the college were told they would receive bursaries to cover their tuition, stipends, equipment, books and accommodation among other things.
The announcement was made at a colourful event attended by Eastern Cape rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane and Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana at the college.
The bursaries, to the tune of R9.8-million, were made available by the health and welfare sector education and training authority (HWSeta) and will cover the full three years.
This followed a memorandum of understanding signed between the provincial department and the HWSeta after a series of engagements between the two.
Sitandatu, who almost enrolled for a nursing course at Walter Sisulu University, fought back tears as he told the audience how much the bursary meant to him.
“Immediately after I received the fee structure for my studies, my knees just went weak. I just thought: this is it for me. This is the end of my dream,” he said.
“When I got home I showed my grandmother the fee structure and she also agreed we wouldn’t be able to pay. This bursary has opened many doors for me.”
A classmate of Sitandatu, Aziphiwe Busakwe, 29, thought it would be a case of lightning striking twice after she was forced to quit her financial management studies in 2013 due to financial difficulties.
The Willovale-born mother of one said she had wanted to be a soil scientist but was happy to become an animal health technician.
HWSeta chief executive Yvonne Mbana said skills development was regarded as a catalyst for pushing back the frontiers of poverty while adding that it was the duty of her institution and government to create a conducive environment for the students to thrive.
However, she warned the millions allocated for the bursaries were more of an investment.
Qoboshiyane said it was government’s duty to support its “sons and daughters” while urging the students to exploit the opportunity. “We must reduce the freeway to taverns and create a freeway to libraries. We want to change the Eastern Cape into a hub of activity and a food basket,” said the MEC.
He also called upon the students to grab the opportunity with both hands.
R9.8m boost for Tsolo students: 50 receive full bursaries
He successfully registered for a three-year diploma at the Tsolo Agriculture and Rural Development College, but had no money and harboured little hope his unemployed mother would be able to afford the R20000-a-year tuition for the course.
However, everything changed for the better yesterday when he and 49 other students at the college were told they would receive bursaries to cover their tuition, stipends, equipment, books and accommodation among other things.
The announcement was made at a colourful event attended by Eastern Cape rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane and Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana at the college.
The bursaries, to the tune of R9.8-million, were made available by the health and welfare sector education and training authority (HWSeta) and will cover the full three years.
This followed a memorandum of understanding signed between the provincial department and the HWSeta after a series of engagements between the two.
Sitandatu, who almost enrolled for a nursing course at Walter Sisulu University, fought back tears as he told the audience how much the bursary meant to him.
“Immediately after I received the fee structure for my studies, my knees just went weak. I just thought: this is it for me. This is the end of my dream,” he said.
“When I got home I showed my grandmother the fee structure and she also agreed we wouldn’t be able to pay. This bursary has opened many doors for me.”
A classmate of Sitandatu, Aziphiwe Busakwe, 29, thought it would be a case of lightning striking twice after she was forced to quit her financial management studies in 2013 due to financial difficulties.
The Willovale-born mother of one said she had wanted to be a soil scientist but was happy to become an animal health technician.
HWSeta chief executive Yvonne Mbana said skills development was regarded as a catalyst for pushing back the frontiers of poverty while adding that it was the duty of her institution and government to create a conducive environment for the students to thrive.
However, she warned the millions allocated for the bursaries were more of an investment.
Qoboshiyane said it was government’s duty to support its “sons and daughters” while urging the students to exploit the opportunity. “We must reduce the freeway to taverns and create a freeway to libraries. We want to change the Eastern Cape into a hub of activity and a food basket,” said the MEC.
He also called upon the students to grab the opportunity with both hands.
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