Pretoria: The North West Provincial Bursary Programme awarded grants amounting to R49.5 million to 1 035 needy young people to pursue studies over the past five years, Premier Thandi Modise reported in her State of the Province Address delivered on Friday.

In outlining the extent to which young people had benefitted from government programmes, Premier Modise said that 213 of the young people who benefitted from the programme graduated in various scarce skills needed by the province.

“We have a good story to tell regarding the development of our young people,” Premier Modise said, adding that a total of 4 868 unemployed youth and graduates benefitted from the provincial skills development and training programmes that were targeted at youth.

About 3 833 of the beneficiaries were registered in skills development programmes such as learnerships, internships and apprenticeship.

Modise thanked the mining qualification authority for offering 60 students to further their studies in mining engineering this year.

With regards to housing, the premier said her government would continue to increase housing delivery.

“The programme of giving our people houses has proven to be one of the most fundamental interventions in the history of rolling out services … making a significant impact on their lives,” said Premier Modise.

She said they would unblock a number of housing projects to maintain the status of being the best performing province in housing delivery in the country.