@sitholesthe
Every first year in university deserves a mentor to
assist them with their academic work and give them a start – especially at the
beginning of the year. A lot of the time students have to stand in long queues
while processing last minute paper work, they would get lost as they move from
office to office and yet still have to get to lectures and might even get left
behind in their work. That is where mentors come in to assist.
In South Africa a lot of schools also have an education
system that doesn’t prepare most students for university. In high school
students have teachers who spoon feed them the whole time whereas at university
they will get lectures and lecturers, but they have to do a chunk of the work
by themselves and lecturers just work as facilitators as it would be getting
discussed in class after readings would or should have been done for homework.
Many students aren’t used to this and as a result fail to do the readings
properly or end up not doing them at all expecting the lecturer to spoon-feed
like the high school teacher did.
When I was in first year I was mentored and now, in
second year, I have been chosen as one of the academic mentors by the Tshwane
University of Technology (TUT). This is a method of getting students to assist
their peers in first year. They pick students with a proven academic track record
from the previous year. The students being asked to do this task would pick
their own subjects of strength and focus on those, but it’s clear that we will
learn a lot from the first years who have been selected and they will not just
be mentees as my classmate Robinson Nqola explained, “They have information
that I did not know.”
We met the first years recently and they seem eager and
keen to learn as most first years usually are. We just hope the spirit doesn’t
disappear. After exchanging ideas with them the job of planning contact
sessions will then start.
TUT first year journalism student is excited to have been
excepted by the university as Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande,
explains that university space is limited with only a capacity of 180 000 new
entrants a year.
“Education is life itself and I am looking forward to
learn new things this year,” says Matsembe. She is now looking forward to
meeting her other mentors.
Education student at the university, Sibusiso Nkosi, says
his senior peers played a crucial role in his academic success when he was a
freshman. “They were good people who were always there to offer support. During
the exams I did not experience difficulty because I studied and gained a lot
from my mentors.”
Mentor Ofentse Ramatsetse is optimistic about his role in
the programme. “It is going to be an interesting experience because we will get
a chance to recollect what we studied in the previous year and share with the
first years. We will ensure that all first years yield positive results out of
this mentorship programme.”
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