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With unemployment well over 50% in rural Umtwalume, working or studying after high school is essential to ensuring that students continue to make healthy decisions, while being able to support themselves and their families. Many students leave rural Umtwalume after high school to find a job in the nearest city, but many are unsuccessful and return to the rural areas, only to wait for years before finding work. Those who stay often become involved in drugs, gangs, and crime.
In 2010, graduated grade 12 students will be given the opportunity to join Thanda EAT Entrepreneurship and Apprentice Training), which will use the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship curriculum to teach students important business skills as they start their own enterprises. What the students decide to start is completely up to them, but Thanda will support them by arranging for skills development in that field of work. Thanda will make it possible for students to research potential clients, conduct market research, network globally, utilize technology, and find information on starting enterprises in South Africa. Thanda is committed to ensuring that these enterprises are successful and sustainable, by working with the entrepreneurs for the first few years of their work. Entrepreneurship provides a way for talent and wages to stay in the community while providing jobs for people locally. It also enables students to determine how their community develops. Thanda teachers encourage the students to use entrepreneurship skills in all aspects of their lives, to action rather than dependency.
Thanda EAT will also assist students who wish to study at tertiary institutions by providing information on scholarships and loans, and offering several Thanda University Scholarships each year. These scholarships will enable students to study through correspondence courses. Thanda EAT will also provide information on finding jobs and offer assistance during the job application process. Thanda EAT will run out of the new Thanda Library and Community Resource Center so that students can access the internet, newspapers, and other resources that are not readily available in this area. Correspondence university students will also study from the library.
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