FORTY-eight current recipients of scholarships and bursaries from Sanral participated in an induction programme hosted by the SOC’s skills development unit at the International Convention Centre in East London.
It was the first induction since the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. The reintroduction of the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited’s (Sanral) scholarship and bursary induction events is a significant step forward to rekindling physical engagement with learners and their parents. Programme participants received information regarding the claiming process and were given an opportunity to engage with Sanral on points of clarity.
The scholarship and bursary induction historically focused on civil engineering with stringent qualifying criteria. Now the approach is more broadly education-focused, with scholarships targeting Grade 8 to 12 learners with 60% aggregates as opposed to the 70% focus on maths and science learners. The bursaries aim to give more access to tertiary studies.
A bursary recipient and now candidate engineer employed by Sanral, Hugo Kircher, gave a glowing testimony. He attributed his current success to Sanral’s scholarship and bursary programme, which sponsored his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Stellenbosch. He encouraged learners to take full advantage of all the opportunities offered.
Sanral southern region stakeholder coordinator, Welekazi Ndika, encouraged learners to focus on their educational goals and to be mindful of the distractions that plague their peer group.
“This opportunity came with such high expectations and relief for me as a single parent. I am grateful to Sanral for supporting my son’s education,” said Siphelele Mazwayi, mother to scholarship recipient, Qhayiya Mazwayi.
