It’s top marks all round thanks to a bursary initiative for South African families which has seen four young South Africans receive critical financial support towards their education costs.

The bursaries enable the learners to focus on their studies, instead of their finances.

School-Days, a bursary-building platform for South African families, recently gave four young South Africans R25,000 bursaries to use towards education fees. The bursary competition was run in conjunction with the launch of the Dis-Chem FOR YOUTH card, a new Dis-Chem rewards initiative tailored to 18-25-year-olds.

Through School-Days, anyone has the power to build their own bursary to pay towards their family’s fees. Over 300,000 people are already putting the future of education in their hands by building School-Days bursaries. To celebrate the launch of the Dis-Chem FOR YOUTH card, School-Days gave four learners a massive head start in the form of a bursary, valued at R25,000 each.

Dis-Chem FOR YOUth ™ card

The first to win an R25,000 bursary was 21-year-old Ayesha Cloete. Ayesha is going to use the bursary to pay for her final year of studies towards becoming a foundation phase teacher at the University of the Western Cape in Bellville. She said: “This bursary will help me cover a large chunk of my university fees for the academic year, which is a relief for me.”

Ayesha continued: “I think that education will always be the single pathway to a better future, no matter what your circumstances are. I would like to thank School-Days for this bursary and for helping me, as an aspiring teacher, to educate tons of bright minds in the near future!”

21-year-old Ayesha Cloete was the first winner.

Jade Dilley was another R25,000 bursary recipient. She is studying towards an LLB degree at NMMU in Port Elizabeth. Jade has been using a student loan to fund her studies, and she says it is a real struggle for her family to find the money for university fees each year. The R25,000 bursary will pay towards her studies this year.

She said: “I don’t think you understand how much you have changed my life. I only go to varsity when I am able to due to finances, and whenever I leave, I think ‘I may not even be able to be here next year’. If it weren’t for School-Days, I’d still be feeling like that today. Thank you so much! I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

Jade Dilley was the second bursary recipient.

Amberleigh Viljoen was November’s School-Days bursary recipient. She is a student teacher of music at the Hosanna Creative Arts Music Centre in Roodepoort, studying part-time to advance her academic music training. Amberleigh has a two-year-old son, Joshua, and she was literally jumping with joy at being the winner of the R25,000 bursary. The bursary will be carefully set aside to ensure that she can continue to grow the bursary for Joshua’s school years.

Amberleigh said: “When I received the news that I had won the bursary, I was so shocked, and I couldn’t believe it! It means a lot to me, as I am a young mother with a little boy wondering how I could plan to save money for his school years. Education is so important because life is not easy, but good education goes a long way. I just want to let people know that no matter what the struggle is, there will always be hope at the end of the tunnel.”

Amberleigh Viljoen, a grateful music teacher.

The fourth bursary winner was 23-year-old Carey-Ann Jane. She completed her Early Childhood Development N6 at Cape Town College. Early in 2018, Carey-Ann applied for an internship student post with Multichoice at their Montessori school in Randburg. She was accepted, with the proviso that she enrolled with the South African Montessori Association and furthered her studies from March this year. The cost? A daunting R58,000 for the next eighteen months! Carey-Ann has been saving every Rand that she can to pursue her teaching career.

Carey-Ann said: “The bursary could not come at a better time. I needed this now more than ever. This bursary will help me to continue my dream of becoming a qualified Montessori Directress. I registered last year at Randburg Montessori College and got accepted to the school too. I was so stressed about the fees and didn’t know how I will manage to afford it. I am now able to study without financial stress due to this amazing competition. Through my shopping at Dis-Chem, I am able to live my dream!”

She concluded: “Education is knowledge, and knowledge is power. It’s important to educate yourself to grow in life and to live a better life for myself and my family.”