TANDO NKUNGWANA
With 60% of first-year tertiary students dropping out — including many from East London — youth unemployment continues to rise, but local NGO, bumb’INGOMSO, is working with students in the city to change that.
Researchers have found that across racial demographics, students are dropping out of colleges and universities at increasing rates over the years mainly because a multiple of personal factors impact their academic performance.
Most institutions do not have the capacity for comprehensive support programmes to mitigate dropouts and this is what prompted bumb’INGOMSO to formulate the psychosocial support intervention that provides psychosocial support to students from Buffalo City TVET College and Lovedale TVET College.
This innovative program has been running since 2018 and yielding remarkable results.
Uviwe Baruma, a Buffalo City TVET College student, is one of the many who have benefited from the support programme for first years. Prior to joining as a first year, she suffered from low self-esteem, anxiety and self-doubt so crippling that it impacted her academic performance and almost prompted her to dropout.
Since exposure into the programme, she is on track to graduate and has played a multitude of leadership roles within the university space including becoming a peer mentor and now a proud member of the student representative council. She believes her success is a testament to the impactful work done by bumb’INGOMSO.
She said: “Through this organisation, I have learnt to make good choices in my life so that I do not get distracted in my academics.
“Before joining bumb’INGOMSO, I struggled with my mental health but after attending their workshops and training sessions, I began to see myself in a new light. I gained confidence, communication skills, and learnt the importance of self-care and self-love.
“Since bumb’INGOMSO also includes an HIV prevention programme, it taught me about the importance of looking after my health as a young woman especially at university. I have been given the tools to make informed decisions.”
Through student leadership, Baruma is committed to helping other young students overcome challenges and thrive. “I would advise all local university and college students to join the bumb’INGOMSO network. The programmes they offer can help students in so many ways. They empower you and give you all the tools you need to become informed, decisive, goal-driven, and focused.”
According to bumb’INGOMSO’s mentor co-ordinator Thabisa Nlebe, the programme prioritises first-year students due to their increased vulnerability. To address these challenges, Bumb’INGOMSO offers a comprehensive range of support services, including counselling, peer support programmes, Positive Talk seminars, academic support programmes and progress tracking.
Nlebe said: “Students who are at the beginning of their tertiary journey find themselves in a new environment with a copious amount of freedom. This makes them vulnerable to predatory behaviour from others and financial difficulties, peer pressure and academic pressures.
“The aim is to create a sense of community for first years and an environment where they can easily form friendships with their peers.
“Students that are supported become aspirant and goal-driven, this makes them work harder and push through inevitable academic and psychosocial challenges because they know they have a community of people who are rooting for them, and who care about them succeeding which is the role we play at bumb’INGOMSO.”
To learn more please contact them at: buffalocity@dgmt.co.za or 043-721-0700.
