George Airport Launches a Learnership Programme for People with Disabilities

2012-11-03 — /travelprnews.com/ — George Airport launched a Learnership Programme aimed at training People with Disabilities on Tuesday, 30 October 2012 at the George Airport Fire Station.The Programme, which is aligned to Airports Company South Africa’s maxim of ‘moving people and changing lives’, aims to provide 12 young individuals from George Airport’s neighbouring communities with a 12-month, on-the-job training opportunity.

“Our Corporate Social Investment portfolio’s key focus area is community development,” explained George Airport Regional Manager, Brenda Vorster. “Through the launch of this initiative, we hope to assist and equip these young individuals with the necessary skills that will allow them to be marketable in the job environment.” She adds that the Learnership Programme will start 1 November 2012 and will see the 12 trainees being placed in various sectors of the airport’s business.

According to Vorster, the learnership is designed in a manner that will allow all trainees to be exposed to all business units. This approach will enable ACSA to identifythe skills of the trainees and match them with the job environment that best fits their personality and strengths.”

A pilot campaign was carried out in July 2011 as part of the airport’s contribution towards Mandela Day. The campaign saw the airport host people with disabilities at their premises where they were given an opportunity to be trained as aircraft marshals. The success of this campaign prompted the team to develop a sustainable programme aimed at providing on-the-job skills training to people with disabilities for a period of 12months.

To foster community involvement, the airport challenged the community to nominate 19 deserving young people to be considered for the programme. This was followed by a series of tests under the Independent Education Board.Of the 19 candidates, 12 with the best overall results were selected to become part of the Learnership Programme. Vorster elaborated that the 12 trainees will also be given an opportunity to work towards attaining their National Certificate qualifications.

“At the end of the 12-month programme, we hope to see the trainees being incorporated into the working environment. We call on other corporates to embark on initiatives similar to our Learnership Programme,” concludes Vorster.
For more information please contact:

Brenda Vorster
George Airport
Brenda.Vorster@airports.co.za
044 803 7703

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