Ten South African matriculants will be able to follow their dreams and pursue careers in journalism through an Institute for the Advancement of Journalism learnership programme this year.
The institute has partnered with the Media, Information, Communications and Technologies, Sector Education and Training Authorities (MICTSETA) for the one year journalism learnership programme, which is NQF compliant.
MICTSETA is one of five programmes established in terms of the Skills Development Act to generate, facilitate and accelerate skills development in South Africa.
“As one of South Africa’s oldest media training institutes that provides core and specialised training across all media platforms in all spheres of the media, the IAJ has committed to the learnership to add to the skills development of the youth,” says IAJ executive director Faiza Abrahams-Smith.
“We have recognised the lack of opportunities for the youth and we are trying to do our bit to add to the skills development sector. We want to provide youth with the opportunity to gain the knowledge and expertise of media and journalism that we have to offer,” she adds.
The learnership will be made up of five modules which includes reporting, writing, producing and technical writing. Once the modules are complete, the students will also enjoy practical modules as well as workplace experience modules.
One of the interns Tshepang Mothibedi, 22 from Johannesburg, is super excited about the programme. “The learnership is keeping me busy and giving me an income. Without this learnership I would probably have been spending more time with the wrong crowd. The learnership has taken me away from these temptations and given me the opportunity to do something better and in the end earn a qualification which can benefit me later for whichever career I choose to pursue” says Mothibedi.
Leevandrea Johnson, 24, from Florida in Johannesburg, adds that journalism has always been a passion. “I’ve always had a thing for stories and storytelling and looking for the latest stories. When I finished school I wasn’t sure about whether or not I wanted to study teaching or journalism. I then started doing a radio broadcasting course at Nemisa and through that I was afforded the opportunity to study Journalism through the IAJ learnership programme,” he adds.