More than 50 secondary school students received a Certificate of Participa­tion from the School Employment Exposure Programme (SEEP) at the Yat Sen Secondary School Hall yesterday.

Minister for Employment, Pro­ductivity and Industrial Relations Parveen Bala officiated the cer­emony saying: “The Government continues to support every devel­opment effort made to transform Fiji into a modern and dynamic economy, involving everyone in our national development and leaving no one behind.”

Mr Bala said the main aim of the programme is to ensure that early intervention is made to bridge the gap between education and em­ployment.

“This is highlighted in the Na­tional Employment Policy –Policy Priority 1: “Create more opportuni­ties for young people aged 15 to 24 years to follow clear pathways from education to employment.”

Mr Bala said interest was ex­pressed by Year 11 students and were attached with 19 employers who willingly offered to take stu­dents as observers and at the same time, giving them the opportunity to learn new skills and prepare them for employment.

He said during the four weeks of the employment exposure pro­gramme, comments from employ­ers were overwhelming and they spoke highly of the students’ ea­gerness to learn.

“The four-week programme has enhanced student’s soft skills that are very essential in the world of work or within the workplace such as Information Technology, Cus­tomer Service and telephone eti­quettes,” said Mr Bala.

“Other things like rotation of re­sponsibilities at the workplaces has developed student’s interest and passion.”

Challenges:

Mr Bala said there were some challenges faced during the imple­mentation of the programme such as the students’ e-ticketing cards where some students did not have them as they normally travelled to school in their parents’ private cars.

“Another issue faced were parents restricting students from using mobile phones while some parents were concerned, after a fire inci­dent to an employment agency,” he said.

“These issues have been taken into consideration as part of my Ministry’s evaluation.”

Mr Bala encouraged parents and guardians to support their children because they gained more knowl­edge on work etiquette and allowed students to be occupied in a posi­tive manner during the school holi­days.

“We are optimistic that the stu­dent’s exposure to the world of work will also enable them to make better informed decisions on their future career choices and create clear pathways towards future em­ployment opportunities.”

The Minister ensured that SEEP would be implemented in the West­ern and Northern division in 2019 so students in other parts of the country were not deprived of these opportunities.

Edited by Losirene Lacanivalu

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