Educational Bursaries Vital to South Africa’s Future
Too often, when we think of education, we see it as a route to personal advancement; a means to ensure our children will have a well-paid job and a secure future. In practice, it is far more. Ensuring South Africans have access to formal learning amounts to an investment in the future of the nation as a whole. For many, however, high college or varsity fees present a barrier to advancement that only access to educational bursaries can overcome.
Many young people dream of a career in medicine, architecture, or engineering. While these are essential and admirable professions, the most fundamental need of any nation is sufficient food to sustain its population. Teaching young people to grow crops and raise livestock is essential to feed South Africa’s people and develop and maintain the country’s economy.
Faced with unprecedented levels of unemployment and the financial impact on those already most disadvantaged has meant that access to educational bursaries has never been more crucial. While the government does its best to provide support, education is just one of its many areas of responsibility. Consequently, we must often rely on the private sector to attempt to make good the shortfall required to fund training in fields, such as agriculture.
“Educate to Grow” is more than just an insightful concept; it is also the chosen name of a non-profit company whose primary mission is the upliftment of the disadvantaged by providing them with educational bursaries. With its main focus on agricultural training, the company partners with donor companies and the general public. Together, the combined donations provide the funds they will subsequently administer.
To ensure help for as many learners as possible, Educate to Grow has also partnered with Agricolleges International. The latter offers learners remote access to an advanced, cloud-based, e-learning platform at a fraction of the cost typically required to attend comparable courses at a brick-and-mortar facility.
While the educational bursaries serve to fund the learners’ participation, the freedom to study from home and at times they find most convenient extends the opportunity to those with domestic responsibilities. Remote also avoids the cost of travel and accommodation that often accompany attendance at a conventional learning centre.
The partnership between Educate to Grow and Agricolleges International offers access to short courses on growing crops, such as maize, avocados, and macadamias, which learners can follow on a mobile phone. For those with no internet access at home, lessons can be downloaded elsewhere and completed offline.
Farms put the food on South Africa’s tables. By helping us with the donations that provide educational bursaries for trainee farmers, you will be ensuring that they can continue to do so.