Oc'e Printing Systems SA has established an education trust fund under the auspices of the Walter Sisulu Education Trust Fund administered by Education Africa, to provide scholarships for disadvantaged pupils. The fund will focus on high school pupils who excel at maths and science.
Education Africa is a non-profit organisation that administers bursaries and education programmes throughout SA, to the benefit of tens of thousands of school pupils and students at tertiary institutions.
Mark Broude, CEO of Oc'e Printing Systems SA, says the Walter Sisulu/Oc'e Printing Systems Education Trust Fund is intended to offer grassroots support for children with the potential to excel in the technology field.
Initially, the scholarship will be made available to up to 10 children in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Durban. Funds will be made available for their schooling, and holiday programmes will be arranged to introduce them to the workplace at Oc'e`s offices. The students may be offered posts or tertiary study bursaries after they matriculate.
Broude says that while he hopes the learners will want to accept posts within Oc'e, he feels the programme will not be wasted if they do not. "Businesses should be contributing to developing the youth through education," he says. "I challenge other IT companies to introduce similar programmes, which will boost the economy as a whole."
In launching the new Education Trust Fund, ANC veteran Walter Sisulu expressed the hope that more companies would contribute to education. Sisulu described education as one of SA`s most pressing issues, saying corporate involvement would go a long way toward improving the situation.
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