As part of the recent Take a girl to work day initiative, 15 female learners had the opportunity to visit the Faculty of Veterinary Science, made possible by collaboration between the Faculty and the Office of the Speaker in the City of Tshwane.

According to Ms Duduzile Malatsi, Deputy Director in the Office of the Speaker, the various departments in the city had the option to choose a specific field to which learners could be exposed. This year the Office of the Speaker decided that it would be a good opportunity to enable learners to explore the field of veterinary science which is also regarded as a profession in the scarce skills category.

As part of the visit's programme, the group of learners, accompanied by a few support staff members from the Office of the Speaker were addressed by students about the various disciplines and possible career opportunities by means of informative presentations. The learners were also taken on a short tour of the faculty and their visit to the faculty's Skills Lab in particular was very popular among the group members. It was clear that the visit to the Faculty was a whole new experience to the girls. 'The girls were very happy and they mentioned how interesting the veterinary field is which they knew little or nothing about', Ms Malatsi said.

She added that the feedback from the learners was very positive about where they were and the opportunities they discovered and did not know exist. 'This was a very informative and eye opening session, not only for the girls but also for our support staff that accompanied them', she said.