'It's phenomenal': Ramaphosa hails teacher assistant jobs for helping millions of young people
President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the basic education department's teacher assistant programme, saying it has been successful in providing millions of unemployed South Africans with job opportunities.
The six-month Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) — Basic Education Employment Initiative offers 200,000 unemployed young people between the ages of 18 and 34 the opportunity to be employed as education assistants and general school assistants in state schools.
Phase V started in June, and successful candidates will receive a monthly stipend of R4,000 and an additional R30 for data.
Briefing the media on Tuesday, Ramaphosa described the programme as 'phenomenal'.
'It is an overarching programme that covers almost all our 25,000 schools. I'm pleased that the basic education department has taken it on, working with the Presidency through the PYEI, and the labour and employment department has also assisted with the funds.'
He said he wants the programme to be strengthened, adding it prepares young people for the formal job sector.
'It is proving to be beneficial in many ways. First, to the young people we bring in — young people who have not had jobs. So we bring them into formal job situations. They come into a formalised institution and they learn a lot. They gain a lot of knowledge, discipline, management skills and people skills to be able to interact with difficult young people, and they are excelling.
'This is usually empowering for these young people and we've had more than two million of them.'
South Africa's unemployment rate has increased to 32.9%, with youth unemployment rising to 46.1%, leaving millions of young people out of work. Ramaphosa said while he would like the programme to be longer, insufficient resources make it difficult.
Despite this, he said the programme is becoming influential globally.
'This is becoming a world-renowned programme. Many other countries are looking at what we are doing here and some of them are going to copy what we are doing, so we are trailblazers in many ways. This is one programme where there hasn't been corruption; it's been flawless and well executed.'
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Institutions such as the Southern African Development Community can also play a role in harmonising policies across borders, creating a collective front against exploitative digital practices. As consumers of digital products, we seldom reflect on the hidden labour behind our tools — the countless workers whose keystrokes and decisions support our seamless experiences online. But therein lies the real danger — a system that exploits precisely because it remains invisible. South Africa, and the continent more broadly, must not only expose this system but lead the way in dismantling it — replacing shadows with accountability and peril with promise. Letlhokwa Mpedi is the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg and a labour law scholar. Tshilidzi Marwala is the rector of the United Nations University, UN under-secretary general, and a thought leader on AI and governance. The authors' latest book on this subject is Artificial Intelligence and the Law (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
