The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) has a funding programme that helps students in the chemicals industry to settle their university debts.
During the 2021/22 financial year, the CHIETA established Lesedi Youth Fund to provide funding for students who are in their final years of study and require funding assistance to complete and obtain their qualifications.
According to CHIETA CEO Yershen Pillay, the funding programme supports students who are studying towards qualifications within the chemicals sector and are aligned with the Skills Strategy of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
“We get a database of students who have tuition debts, and we settle it through the fund. In 2021, CHIETA had about R16 million to settle student debts. We also funded work integrated learning worth R20 million through the fund, where we trained artisans in our sector,” he beamed.
Slindile Precious Manyike of Nquthu in KwaZulu Natal, who is currently based in Secunda in Mpumalanga, is one of the young people who has benefitted from the fund.
After completing matric in 2011, she had to find a job because she could not further her studies at the time due to financial challenges. 
“I worked in the retail industry from 2013 until January 2017. I only managed to enrol to study towards a Diploma in Analytical Chemistry with the Durban University of Technology after five years of completing matric,” explains Manyike.
She chose this qualification because she has always had a natural curiosity for chemicals and how they are used to produce products. Her passion and love for chemistry started when she was in high school when she learned how soap was made.
As part of her studies, she did her in-service training at Clariant Southern Africa in Richard's Bay in 2019 and her internship at Sappi Tugela in 2021. However, she was still owing the university about R16 200 and that denied her an opportunity to graduate
in April 2020 as well as getting her certificate of qualifications.
In 2022, she was fortunate to be among hundreds of students whose tuition debts were settled by the CHIETA’s Lesedi Youth Fund.
“The bursary really helped me because I ended up getting my certificate after the debt was settled. I am now able to apply for jobs using my certificate because it was really difficult to apply using only the academic record because other companies require an original certificate of qualifications when they are recruiting candidates,” says Manyike who is currently unemployed and looking for a job.
Since inception to date, the CHIETA has managed to fund 712 beneficiaries through the fund. The SETA says 160 of these students were funded to the tune of more than R10 million during the 2022/23 financial year.
To find out more information about the fund, you can contact CHIETA regional offices below:
Gauteng- email: bledwaba@chieta.org.za or call087 357 6608/ 011 628 7000
Western Cape- email: fnenemba@chieta.org.za or call 087 357 6695/ 021 551 1113/4
KwaZulu Natal- bmaetisa@chieta.org.za or call 087 353 5573/ 031 368 4040
Eastern Cape- spotberg@chieta.org.za or call 087 353 5573/ 041 509 6478
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