Top-performing pupils in Grade 10, 11 and 12 in the Northern Cape have been selected to participate in a pre-university enrichment programme at Sol Plaatje University.
TOP-PERFORMING pupils in Grade 10, 11 and 12 in the Northern Cape have been selected to participate in an enrichment programme at Sol Plaatje University (SPU) until the end of the week.
SPU senior manager of communications and marketing Kashini Maistry said the 41 pupils who were selected for the programme were attending schools in Kimberley, Carnarvon and Upington.
“The Sol Plaatje University Talent Pipeline Programme was launched on October 2 by SPU vice-chancellor and principal Professor Andrew Crouch,” said Maistry.
“The pupils will be accommodated at the university during the school holidays until October 9. They will undergo a programme that focuses on a psycho-social educational enrichment curriculum of deep immersion in both academic and esoteric subjects.
“They will be engaged in mathematics, language and science studies, along with life skills, dance and digital literacy courses.”
Maistry said that the Anglo-American Foundation, as the anchor funder, pledged R12.1 million towards the three-year pre-university programme.
“This programme, which is also run at other South African universities, is extremely successful in creating a pipeline of excellent learners from under-resourced schools and has already produced several medical doctors, nurses, actuaries, accountants, economists and engineers who have made a positive impact on their communities.”
During his address to the guests at the gala dinner on Saturday night, Professor Crouch emphasised the need to produce graduates who were locally and internationally competitive in order to move the Province out of its “state of dire poverty”.
