The Ritja career fair hosted its first education seminar of the year this week at various schools in the Omaheke region with the aim and purpose of encouraging learners to make informed decisions when deciding on the various career paths they wish to pursue.
Formed in 2013, Ritja is a grassroots non-profit organization under the patronage of Khomas Governor Laura Mcloud Katjirua.
The fair was hosted at Okorukambe village before moving to the region’s capital town, Gobabis, on Friday. The fair is held annually in different parts of the country with the sole aim of allowing scholars to acquire the necessary knowledge about the courses that suit them and the job opportunities available.
According to the event coordinator, Hilma Petrus, the fair focuses on youth elevation regarding education and entrepreneurship while creating an engagement platform for students and different institutions concerning self-employment.
“Its focus is lined with elevating the youth with regards to education and entrepreneurship by creating a platform for the engagement of students, youth, and different institutions both in academia and business with regards to self-employment,” she said.
She noted that the fair has been driven by the sub-standard national results that saw more than 70% of 2022 grade 11 students who sat for the national examinations fail to qualify for tertiary level.
“The fair is driven by the recently published national results coming to the realisation to engage in a more comprehensive, multi-sectoral, and result-oriented event that will allow students an opportunity to engage with different institutions and receive proper guidance as they require,” Petrus noted.
Petrus said that the fair has a positive impact on the students and the youth at large as they connect to different learning and business opportunities, allowing them to have a handful of options, which in turn allows them to make the right decisions based on their personalities and passions.
“The career fair has seen a positive outcome with an increase in performance and recognized schools such as Okamatapati Combined School, Okondjatu Combined School, Mweshipandeka Secondary School, Okakarara Secondary School, and other schools in the ||Karas region,” said Petrus.
The fair has been assisting the education directory for the past ten years to accelerate the education system in Namibia by providing clear career guidance to all learners and creating a networking platform for students to interact and share information.
According to her, with a further plan on establishing a monitoring system to record success stories as a result of the career fair and to be shared as motivation to the youth and enable the organisation to take accountability for shortcomings and increase further on accomplishments, they began by using their personal funds to reach students and youth from various regions with the help of sponsors from public institutions such as the Namibia Student Financial Assistance.
Ritja Career Fair is the brainchild of the national broadcaster’s (NBC) Omurari investigative journalist, Uzeraije Kapika Tjazerua. After several discussions with the late governor of the Otjozondjupa Region, Rapama Kamehozu, in 2012, the idea was born in 2013.

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