Pretoria - With the aim of educating young people about the 1976 uprising and Soweto historical sites which form part of the country's rich history, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will take 250 young people on educational tours around Soweto.
The tours will take place on 11 and 17 June 2011.
The selected young people are Grade 11 and 12 students from top performing rural, township and former Model C schools across the country.
Sites that the young people will visit include the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial, the Nelson Mandela Family Museum and Walter Sisulu Square, where they will learn about the Freedom Charter.
Other aspects of the tour include a motivational talk by Sello Maake ka Ncube, an ardent exponent of South African culture who has over 25 years experience as an actor and was also a student during the 1976 uprising.
To inform young people about opportunities that are available to them, there will also be speakers from tertiary institutions, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and an NYDA career guidance counsellor.
The ideal outcome would be that the young people walk away with an understanding and an appreciation of what it took to achieve the democracy the country now enjoys.
This will ensure that they share this experience with other young people. In addition, even though challenges that today's youth face are different, they can still be inspired to fight challenges such as unemployment and HIV/Aids with the same determination and courage that the youth of 1976 showed.
The NYDA says the names of 1976 heroes and heroines such as Hector Pieterson, Mbuyisa Makhubo and Tsietsi Mashinini should be ingrained in young people's minds just like the names of the music, movie and sports stars whose posters adorn young people's bedroom walls.
