Portal:Social entrepreneurship/Case Studies/more/Ithemba Institute of Technology

Uzendt Peters, a teacher in a public school saw the looming gap between students finsihing school and skills-dependant job market. Peters wanted to make both parties come to the table, thus he decided to bring industry into the education sphere.

He took a run-down old school in Soweto and transformed it into the Ithemba Institute of Technology. Here, big businesses could play their part in enabling skills development in their field of speciality and expertise that they need.

The involvement of the big businesses ranges from lending a hand with the curriculum to providing the Institute with the equiment to train the students in the relevant industry production processes.

This project has brought competitors in the marketplace together to adress the proble of skills shortages in South Africa in a mutually beneficial way.

Uzendt Peters' own words … "The youth is the most important asset in this country. We need to invest in our youth, and that is what I hope my contribution can be." SouthAfrica.info, 12 May 2009)

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