Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, welcome to this briefing on conclusion of inaugural meeting of the Human Resource Council of South Africa, chaired by the Deputy President.
Today we launched the Human Resource Development Council with the vision to provide an environment which promotes optimal participation of all stakeholders in the planning, stewardship, and monitoring and evaluation of human resource development activities in the country. This Council will focus its work on the priorities and actions necessary to achieve progress in the key and inter-dependent pillars of our HRD strategy: quality educational attainment at all levels; skills development; science and innovation; and labour market policies.
As you are aware, government has for years spoken about skills development and its importance in ensuring economic development and ultimately dealing with unemployment. The launch of this council is a milestone towards this goal and ensuring that skills development is conceptualised as a critical component of the four pillars of human development.
Education is one of government’s priorities and the work of this council will assist in troubleshooting the problem areas in the education and training system. This council under the stewardship of the Department of Higher Education has committed to:
• urgently overcome the shortages in the supply of people with the priority skills needed for the successful implementation of current strategies to achieve accelerated economic growth,
• increase the number of appropriately skilled people to meet the demands of our current and emerging economic and social development priorities, and
• ensure improved universal access to quality basic education and schooling (up to grade 12) that is purposefully focused on achieving an improvement in education outcomes for the poor, and on equipping learners to pursue post-school education, including vocational education and training, or employment; and urgently implement skills development programmes that are aimed at overcoming poverty and unemployment.
The Deputy President has appointed Bheki Ntshalintshali as the Chairperson of the Technical Working Group and the first deputy chair of the council. Processes are underway for the appointment of the second deputy chair and the Technical Working Group.
The council will in the next year undertake the following tasks (before the end of the year):
* evaluate, amend and adopt the HRDSA Strategy,
* consider the outcomes of the JIPSA process and recommend to the next Council Meeting how and what further work needs to be done in line with the goals of the revised HRDSA.
* establish a mechanism to commission relevant research in the field of human resource development.
As the Deputy President said in his opening remarks “We are gathered here because there is a need to find solutions and look beyond ourselves as individuals and our constituencies. We cannot deny that we have come a long way since our liberation from apartheid. We have achieved a great deal of success in breaking barriers. However, the majority of our people still face unbelievable obstacles that prevent them from leading economically productive lives.”
During the meeting members raised concerns about blockages in the human resource development system and challenges for government to overcome. Council indicated the need for evidence-based decision making and clear actions plans. . This we believe is possible given that most members are upbeat about their participation and perceived role in the HRD Council.
It is encouraging to note that all members are committed to serve on this important structure, not necessarily representing their own sectoral interests but they have been assembled to collectively lead a decisive attack on education and skills challenges facing South Africa.
It is important to note that members of the Council have agreed to engage with the Draft HRD Strategy for South Africa which will culminate in the finalisation of the Strategy before the July Cabinet Lekgotla this year. Government looks forward to receiving their comments and to use these to finalise the HRD Strategy.
For further enquiries contact:
Ranjeni Munusamy, Ministry of Higher Education and Training
Cell: 082 898 6082
Issued by: The Presidency
30 March 2010
