Keetmanshoop
//Karas Regional Governor Lucia Basson has called on all stakeholders to make sure that career guidance reaches rural areas, so that learners in those areas can make guided decisions too.
She made the remarks at the official opening of the first ever Ritja Career Fair in the region, which was held at Suiderlig Senior Secondary School on Saturday.
She expressed her gratitude to the organisers for bringing the event to the region, saying that the main purpose of a career fair is to provide learners with tools and resources to make important and valuable career decisions.
Thus, she said, it’s of paramount importance that learners have such valuable information, adding that such events should reach the rural areas as well for learners to be properly guided on their career choices.
Basson said there is a skewed information flow on career possibilities between urban and rural areas, which sees urban learners having more access to such information than their rural counterparts.
“Therefore, I would like to call on organisers of career fairs to take such opportunities to our rural areas,” she urged.
She added that doing so would allow rural learners to establish important contacts to learn more about careers and potential opportunities.
She furthermore called on learners to be the pilots of their own future, stating that through discipline and hard work they would be able to become someone in life.
“You are not studying for me or your grandmother, but for your own future,” she told the Grade 12 learners from various schools.
Motivational speaker Kahoo Kandjoze gave the learners something to ponder as she encouraged them to have a vision on what they want to achieve, explaining that everyone has a purpose in life and it’s up to them to find it.
“We are all here for a purpose, we are not here to decorate mother earth,” she said.
She further urged the learners that when choosing a career to know their strengths, potential, gifts, “and have a passion for what they want to pursue in life”.
Different institutions showcased what career choices they can offer, and excited learners went from one table to the next to find out where they might have a shot.