N Pandor: Further Education and Training Colleges Bill

7 November 2006

Let me begin, Madam Speaker, by thanking the members of the portfolio
committee for the work that they have done with respect to this piece of
legislation.

There have been public hearings, committee consultations, engagements with
stakeholders and I believe this has been very important in assisting us to
draft a Bill that will have a positive impact on the FET sector.

The Bill achieves several important objectives. It sets out a specific
statutory framework for colleges. It creates the basis for addressing the
current shortage of skills that confronts South Africa. It gives concrete shape
to the necessary skills revolution that has to get underway in South
Africa.

The Deputy President, Minister Manuel, and Minister Mdladlana have all
stressed the importance of FET colleges in meeting government's goal of
increasing the pool of skilled and semi-skilled workers.

There is a national shortage of skilled and semi-skilled workers. This
shortage has serious consequences for our ability to complete large-scale
projects like the Gautrain, and prepare to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The Bill, therefore, has to be understood against this backdrop and in
relation to the skills training regime that we have in our country today. There
are many institutions that offer training; businesses do their own training,
and individuals also play a role.

Generally, none of the providers work in a co-ordinated and coherent
fashion. Despite the many excellent efforts skills gaps still remain in our
country and trainees fail to secure jobs in sectors that critically need
skilled practitioners. We are all doing training but somehow the trainees are
not responding to economic demand. So, there is something wrong that we must
correct.

About 400 000 students attend FET colleges and 700 000 attend higher
education institutions. Given our human resources requirements, and the
direction of economic growth in South Africa, the numbers should be different.
The number of students should be higher in the colleges.

It is important to point out that the skills revolution that we are setting
in motion is not one that is solely concentrated in the FET colleges. The
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint
Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) initiative has had an
important impact on universities, which also have a role to play in the
provision of skills.

In the coming period, there can be little doubt that the shape and functions
of higher education institutions, and in particular the universities of
technology, will be influenced by the maturing FET college sector, with the
progressive introduction of responsive and modernised programme offerings.

Several important developments are linked to the passage of this Bill.
First, we have developed norms and standards for funding public colleges (they
have been published for public comment) and, second, Minister Manuel announced
a student loan and bursary scheme in his Medium Term Expenditure Framework
(MTEF) policy speech last month.

This Bill provides the framework to strengthen responsiveness, co-ordination
and quality. In the past six years we have been restructuring the colleges but
this process has not been consolidated through a specific college focused law.
It is the aim of the Bill to achieve this consolidation.

We have recapitalised and redesigned the college sector. From next year they
will be able to offer intermediate and high-level skills to students from the
age of 16 to mature adults. They will be able to give effect to our long held
idea of providing lifelong learning. Achieving this goal means colleges must be
distinct from schools.

It is important to state that the Bill protects educators currently employed
in the college sector, which was a major concern that emerged in the public
hearings. In the recapitalisation programme R10 000 has been made available for
every college lecturer to undergo training in the new programme areas.

The Bill proposes that management staff will be appointed by the MEC, while
all other staff will be employed by the college. There has been a great deal of
concern about the employment provisions of the Bill. The objections have been
taken into account in the parliamentary process, and I again thank Honourable
Members for the role that they have played in this regard.

To those who fear that we are deviating from our promise to create different
types of focus high schools, I confirm today that this objective remains part
of our planning. We will continue to create focus schools, technical schools,
schools that focus on technology, drama and other core disciplines. These are
part of the plan, but colleges will with the agreement on this Bill be
different from schools.

All indicators of economic growth and development point to the fact that we
must have more artisans in all the economic sectors in our country. We believe
colleges are best placed to teach these skills alongside industry and other
partners. So, the time for the college sector has come. Now is the time for
employers to look to the college sector for those critical skills they need in
the immediate future.

Industry has been very helpful in shaping our curriculum and we thank them
for this.

The major development in the college sector in the next three years will be
the teaching of new modernised programmes. The new programmes have been
developed in consultation with all stakeholders and have won broad national
support. These new programmes are grouped into 13 fields and comprise 52 core
subjects and many additional specialisations or electives. These have the
possibility and flexibility to be extended where necessary.

Honourable Members, a great deal of work has been done to lay the basis for
South Africa to develop the human resources we need to support our economy and
our development projects.

Issued by: Department of Education
7 November 2006