Abstract
The transition to democracy in South Africa demanded transformation for educational policies. The transformation was to promote equity in higher education enrolments so that equal opportunities can exist for the broader society. Twenty years into democracy, access to and participation in higher education learning still remains a challenge. The youth from disadvantaged families faces many barriers when deciding to matriculate to higher education. There are very slim chances of them enrolling in higher education compared to their urban counterparts; this is due to limited resources and support.
The purpose of the research project was to compile data on the information needs of the youth to determine how lack of information affect the youth on making good career choices. This is significant as the researcher was able to bring an understanding of how lack of information impacts on the learner’s decision to access higher education. The participants for this research project were students from J Kekana High School in the township of Mamelodi between the ages of 14 and 19 years.
A quantitative approach was used in order to examine how lack of access to information impact on the career choices of learners, and semi-structured interviews were utilised. Through data analysis, the researcher compared the experience of the male and female respondents. The investigative questions sought to explore the information needs, sources of information, barriers to information, and adequacy of information applicable to the respondents.
The results indicated that the experiences of the male and female respondents are similar. The findings revealed that the top information needs for both genders are information about bursaries and information relating to universities. Both males and females report higher use of the internet as their main source of information. The results indicate that even though respondents may view the same sources of information, they also experience similar barriers in meeting their information needs, which relates to inadequate knowledge of universities and knowledge about the library system.
M.Com. (Local Economic Development)