At the end of the 2010-2011 school year SMVTS approached DERPI with this idea to organize a tailor made mentorship training specifically for their school with a holistic approach i.e. tackling the concept of mentorship from different angles. VLF was keyed as the right institution to carry out this training. Since then the team at the SMVTS have been actively participating in several training sessions starting with their participation at the Mentorship Symposium organized by VLF in August 2011. Following a very successful symposium the team at SMVTS is currently almost midway a 9-week 'curriculum' tackling the team spirit within the school amongst many other topics; the last training of this year taking place on the 14th of December.
Next the team at the SMVTS will begin in January 2012 with bi-monthly training sessions designed to cover topics such as confidentiality, communication, youth empowerment, amongst many others.
DERPI is pleased to be able to provide such an in depth mentorship training and looking forward to seeing the results. If this holistic approach proves successful, this pilot training could be implemented in other PSVE schools in an effort to boost the mentoring aspect of the school system.
DERPI would like to thank the SMVTS for their initiative spirit in seeking ways to tackle issues within their school, the VLF for accepting the opportunity to share the vast amount of knowledge they have garnered throughout the years and USONA for funding this project.