The Department of Basic Education has extended the deadline for teacher assistant job applications to midnight on Sunday, 10 October 2021.
Applications for phase two of the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) opened on 27 September and the initial deadline was set for Sunday, 3 October 2021.
‘Alternative avenue’ for teacher assistant job applications
In a statement on Thursday (29 September), the Department said, “Applications submitted online via the zero-rated SAYouth.mobi site are for efficiency in the data collection and management, which has been centralised to enable fairness in the recruitment and application process.
“The Department of Basic Education has also introduced an alternative avenue for applicants to submit their applications. More information and directions on the application process will be issued in due course.”
UPDATE: In a statement on Friday (1 October), the Department announced that the new avenue for applicants to access the application form is https://sayouth.me/DBE.
“Please note that this form is not zero-rated and will require a small amount of data (3MB) to complete. The mobi-site is still available for applications, but applicants can use this site if they are still unable to apply,” it said.
Phase one of BEEI, which is part of the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, ended earlier this year. In phase two, BEEI aims to provide employment and training opportunities in the education sector to 287,000 unemployed young people.
Of these, around 192,000 will be Education Assistants and approximately 95,000 will be General School Assistants. Successful applicants will be placed in schools for five months from 1 November 2021 to 31 March 2022.
Manual applications discouraged
In a tweet on Thursday, the Department’s BEEI Twitter account cautioned applicants against making manual applications at schools.
“If you submit your application manually at a school, we will not be able to see or find your application for consideration because it won’t be on the system. Think about it carefully before submitting at a school. We are aware of the challenges; please give us time to respond,” BEEI tweeted.
BEEI also indicated that most schools would not allow visitors because of COVID-19 restrictions, which means that walk-in applications are not permitted. Schools are also busy with exams currently.
To read a step-by-step guide on how to apply, including criteria as well as qualification and document requirements, click here.
Besides employment, successful applicants will also receive training in various fields, including in ICT, child and youth care, and infrastructure maintenance.
For more information and updates, follow BEEI on Facebook and Twitter.