SANRAL paves the way to a brighter future for engineering students

In a boost to engineering in South Africa, SANRAL's Northern Region welcomed 23 deserving students from Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West into its scholarship and bursaries programme at a luncheon in Pretoria.

The scholarship programme, which covers school fees, textbooks and uniform, is open to high school learners who display exceptional academic ability in mathematics, physical science and English, with preference given to those in rural schools.

Bursaries are awarded to students who have successfully registered for their undergraduate or post-graduate studies in engineering related to construction, the built environment and road management studies.

In order to ensure recipients get the best out of the programme, SANRAL has developed a buddy system where the students are able to build a relationship with one other in order to share any information required for academic projects and assignments.

At the induction event, held at SANRAL's Central Operations Centre in Pretoria, Educational Programmes Coordinator, Gcina Sentletse, expressed the agency's excitement about being able to invest in each candidate's future: "We had to choose the very best from the many applications we received. Looking at the calibre of our recipients, we are excited for the future of South Africa."

Malesiba Mabe, a previous bursary recipient and now project manager at SANRAL, said: "The SANRAL bursary covers a lot. It isn't just about the money, but it has given me a sense of dignity and pride. When I and other recipients struggled with a particular module, the bursary administrators at the time stepped in and ensured that we passed with distinctions".

Grade 12 scholar, Khanyisile Makhoba, says her scholarship has been a blessing. "I'm very grateful to SANRAL for affording me a good quality education. All thanks to this scholarship, I don't need to worry about anything other than my big dreams."

Japhta Mamanyane is a young master's student in civil engineering, specialising in hydraulic structures, at the University of Johannesburg. "SANRAL's bursary administrator motivated me to continue my studies. It was exciting for me to be the first black male student at the age of 22 to do my master's under SANRAL and that excited me. I come from a family where no one was educated at all and the school that I went to only had two blocks. I told myself that education will enable me to progress in life and I have continued with that motivation until now. "

SANRAL encourages young people who would like to build a career in civil engineering to apply for its scholarships and bursaries. The next round of applications for bursaries will open on 1 June 2018, while scholarship applications will open on 1 July 2018. All applications must be in by 30 September 2018.

For a video on how this programme has helped Nozipho Ngomane qualify as a civil engineer: click here. For more information on scholarships: click here. For more information on bursaries: click here.