Pretoria - Matriculants awarded bursaries by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure have been urged to grab the opportunity and use education to change the country.
They were also asked to build a South Africa that would realise true potential.
Minister Patricia de Lille, awarding the bursaries at St George’s Hotel in Centurion, congratulated the class of 2021 for achieving outstanding results despite the many challenges they faced.
She said getting the opportunity to meet and reward young people who excelled at school level and had chosen to enter built environment professions was one of her favourite activities.
The reason was that the country was in dire need of professionals in this sector, and as a result the department initiated the Bursary and Skills Pipeline Programme, she said.
The programme, according to De Lille, was important as there was a significant lack of skills in the public sector for built environment professionals.
It also aimed at removing financial barriers to students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds who are in need of financial assistance, who display excellence, and who had also enrolled for courses in the built environment for their tertiary education.
“Our country has a lot of work to do in this space, to build infrastructure and the buildings and homes so desperately needed by our people who have yet to taste the fruits of our democracy.
“Treasure this reward, work for it, and become the professionals one day that will help build South Africa up for the benefit of our grandparents and parents who have yet to taste the fruits of our democracy,” De Lille told the learners.
The bursary accommodates students studying courses such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, marine engineering, property studies, real estate, actuarial science, quantity surveying, construction project management, landscape architecture, architecture, and town and regional planning.
De Lille said this year the department would be awarding 43 bursaries in the Built Environment for courses such as actuarial science, electrical engineering, construction studies, urban and regional planning, civil engineering, quantity surveying and mechanical engineering to be studied at various accredited traditional universities.
Bursary recipients hail from all nine provinces and have been accepted at North West University, University of Johannesburg, UCT, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Pretoria and Wits.
The bursary is R150 000 a student per year and covers tuition, accommodation, meals, textbooks, laptops, projects, books, excursions, workshops and a monthly stipend allowance.
Over the past eight years, the department has awarded bursaries to 401 students since the programme started in 2014 to the tune of R52 million to bring the required skills into the public sector.
Pretoria News