Keynote address by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Mduduzi Manana at the launch of 2014 – 2024 decade of artisan at Ekurhuleni East Tvet College, Kwathema
Programme Director
Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Mr Enver Surty
The Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Councillor Mondli Gungubele
The Principal of the Ekurhuleni East TVET College Ms Happy Sibande
The CEOs and Representatives of SETAs
Distinguished guests, in particular the social partner representatives from industry, organised labour, community and municipalities
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning,
On Thursday the 16th January 2014 the Minister of Higher Education and Training, the honourable Dr Blade Nzimande, released the national government policy titled White Paper for Post-school Education and Training: Building an Expanded, Effective and Integrated Postschool System. This national policy was approved by Cabinet on 20 November 2013 for implementation in support in particular of the National Development Plan 2030.
In the preface to the white paper the Minister indicated that “following the adoption of the White Paper by Cabinet, and based on the framework that it provides, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) will elaborate a concrete development plan for the period up to 2030”. Today’s event that will launch the 2014 – 2024 Decade of the Artisan is evidence of part of such concrete plan for the implementation of the White Paper.
We are therefore signalling to the nation at large and the community of artisan development in particular that we are very serious and in a hurry to implement the White Paper policy. This will not be a policy that will be shelved for review in five or ten years’ time. It is a living and vibrant document that is already moving. I am extremely happy that so many of the artisan community could join us at this significant event as part of the implementation of the White Paper process.
To further illustrate the significance of this event today in regard to implementation of the White Paper, in the executive summary of the White Paper, it is stated that: “In areas of work such as the artisan trades, apprenticeships have traditionally been the pathway to qualifications; however, the apprenticeship system has been allowed to deteriorate since the mid-1980s, resulting in a shortage of mid-level skills in the engineering and construction fields. Re-establishing a good artisan training system is an urgent priority; the current target is for the country to produce 30 000 artisans a year by 2030.”
The launch of the Decade of Artisan and roll out of the programme over the next ten years leading up to 2030 is a critical integral part of the good artisan training system that is an urgent priority. The “system” we are referring to here is not just a computer system or a recruitment system or a career system or a learning system, but a total holistic system that includes all the social parts that exists within the communities of practise for artisan development.
The programme that is being implemented today where we have all the stakeholder of the local artisan development community talking to us about their needs, expectations and contributions for artisan development in Ekurhuleni is allowing us the develop that artisan development system in this specific local community.
These deliberations, comments, discussions form and enhance the basis of the artisan development strategy of the Ekurhuleni East TVET College Artisan Development Strategy. As this programme is rolled out over the next ten years, each and every TVET College in the country will be implementing the same process, giving us a total holistic system of artisan development when we add all the fifty TVET College artisan development strategies together.
This further implementation of the White Paper as on Page 12 with reference to TVET Colleges the White Paper states that “the aim is not to make all colleges the same. Their individual characteristics will be determined, above all, by their local environments, creating a diverse subsystem that serves a wide range of needs” It is therefore important to note that as we move forward, from here onwards, that we as the post school education and training family do not lose the significance and importance of where we are today as we implement the national artisan development training system.
This is a public TVET College and it is now the central, coordinating mechanism for artisan development in this part of the country. All other TVET Colleges that cover the entire country must note this significant development and start to move to take over ownership for artisan development in their communities as well. This is a significant shift in the development and management of the national artisan development system since from the mid-1980s artisan development control came firstly under the Industry Training Boards followed later control through the SETAs in 2000.
However before 1980s the Colleges and Employers in each community managed and controlled artisan development resulting in very close links and relationships between local industry and each College. In this very area we had places like SAPPI, MONDI, De Beers, Anglo American and Kellogs all working directly with the Technical Colleges in Springs to train apprentices and I hasten to add without discretionary grants from SETAs or the National Skills Fund, It is time we reconnect these role players with each other.
However to accomplish such a relinking of employers and workplaces to the TVET College system requires that SETAs in particular start to very seriously facilitate partnerships between the employers in their sector and relevant TVET Colleges. We have many SETAs offices at TVET Colleges, their role is to link the employers in their sectors with each of the Colleges to assist with the role of relevant programmes.
I am told for example that the Chemical SETA or CHIET have already linked some of their companies like PG Glass with his College for artisan development. Why can other SETAs not do the same? They have over ten years of employer data on their systems and we need to get that valuable resource into the Colleges. SETAs can also utilise College expertise to manage their grant processing since the College CFO is much closer to the actual workplace than the SETA CFO sitting in his office in Sandton or Centurion.
To assist in the transfer of this valuable employer based artisan workplace data from the SETAs to the TVET College system we have set up also at these premises of the Ekurhuleni East TVET Colleges and National Artisan Development Support Centre (NADSC), a facility that we are also officially launching today although it has been fully operational for some time now.
This Decade of the Artisan programme gives us the opportunity to move this wonderful resource into the mainstream of artisan development. However the establishment and operational model of this centre, known as the NADSC, is a very important case study we need to take note of and in fact expand.
The NADSC is located within a call centre facility that was built by the College during a recapitalisation process in the previous administration, before DHET even existed. However for a variety of reasons the centre was not fully utilised. During the period April to September 2012, a serious of discussions between members of the Technical Task Team for Artisan Development of the Human Resources Development Council who are here today, the College and Skills Branches in the Department including INDLELA as well the College colleagues, resulted in the Director General approving a small amount of R 25 million to set up what we now know as the NADSC.
This facility has resulted for the first time since before 1980, of a single national artisan learner database that is starting to give us real verifiable data on artisan learning. This is huge achievement for our country given the weakness we have as a country for data management. This same centre is now becoming the central artisan learner placement and tracking mechanism for artisan learners. Employers all over the country especially need to be aware of this centre as it can save them a lot of money when it comes to recruiting suitable learners for artisan development.
All other TVET Colleges public and private can also benefit their learners by helping them register at the NADSC as artisan programme candidates. Retired artisans who want give back to their country and their own grand children can register at the NADSC to become mentors. We need you, even those living in Australia that must by now be very tired of not living in their own country.
However what I want to highlight in particular about this centre is that all of the work in building the computer and communication systems and processes as well staff that run the centre that now includes twenty eight young centre agents are trained by the College themselves through NCV programmes, with internal College capacity together with the support of the INDLELA artisan development team. We have no external systems consultants or companies involved, and the reason why this is now working so well is because of the commitment of these young people to their work.
SETAs in particular need to take note of this process because one of the challenges we have is the inability of the SETAs to come together to have single learner database system. We have achieved this here with the NADSC using public College capacity, not external consults or experts. This is a much more sustainable and cost effective solution. My challenge to the SETA CEO’s in particular is to come and look at the this system here at the NADSC and urgently start the process of moving towards one learner database system, using the TVET Colleges as your systems developers, not each SETA wasting money with their own personal preferred external system development company.
Remember that if the collective SETA learner database system is within the TVET College system we have an automatic link between employers and Colleges. It is one system not twenty one like now. Let’s make it work as how else are we going to get workplaces linked to colleges. Coordinating such a process is of course very important but the Minister has already made provision for such a coordination mechanism in the White Paper in the proposed.
The South African Institute for Vocational and Continuing Education and Training (SAIVCET) that will progressively inherit the work of the NADSC and other artisan development work being coordinated at INDLELA at present inclusive of Stakeholder Management, Career Management, Data Management, Curriculum Development, Delivery Capacity Development and Recognition of Prior Learning Systems Development. In fact I am wondering if the SAIVCET should not in fact be located initially anyway right here at the NADSC or at INDLELA and then expand from there.
This is quick win that we can achieve within a few months and I would really like the Director General to look at this possibility as soon as possible and produce a feasibility report within a month.
As we implement the Decade of the Artisan programme in the period leading up to 2030, there are two other key areas of artisan development we will need to also accelerate in tandem with the public TVET College system.
The first issue is partnerships between the public colleges and private training providers including the huge capacity within large companies like Anglo American, AcellorMitall, Sasol as well as the myriad of small artisan training companies. The second issue is the simplification and stream lining of quality assurance of national artisan development processes.
At the moment in our country the major capacity for practical training, and in some cases theoretical training, for apprentices exists within the private sector, not the public sector. That needs to change but not by closing down or marginalising the private sector. We need the private sector capacity to be retained and grown as well, but in very close cooperation with the public TVET College System. For example in this community we have a well-known private artisan training company knows as the Ekurhuleni Artisan and Skills Training Centre.
Part of the Ekurhuleni East TVET College artisan development strategy must include how they will work with the Fundi Training Centre and others in the community. I expect this approach to be followed by all the TVET Colleges without exception. Our country needs cooperation and not competition when it comes to public and private training systems. Let’s put personal preferences, emotions and unreasonable profits aside and work on the meeting of minds to the benefit of all, not just the select few.
To simplify and streamline quality assurance of artisan development, the National Artisan Moderation Body or the NAMB located within the Chief Directorate National Artisan Development or INDLELA needs to get together with the Governance and Executive structures of the Quality Council of Trades of occupations as soon as possible to proceed such a simplification process.
The Minister has also stated this is the White Paper in that it states that “The National Artisan Moderation Body (or NAMB) will play a major role in developing external assessment for trade and occupational qualifications. It should be absorbed into the QCTO as a separate section or chamber at an opportune time.”
Before I conclude and officially launch the Decade of the Artisan, I would also like to formally announce that we have also reached formal agreement with all our public TVET Colleges and the SA College Principals Organisation or SACPO that ever year from now onwards, all public TVET Colleges will declare August an open College month to allow employers and learners from schools in particular to visit the Colleges to see for themselves the programme offering sin each college.
For full week in August the Colleges will specifically invite schools in their area to visit the College and give Grade 8 and 9 learners College workshop tours. This will go a huge way in growing an understanding among many young people of the opportunities for technical and vocational learning South Africa.
Mr Programme Director, I can continue to expand for a long time still on the many plans and ideas we have for artisan development in our country but I think I have said enough. Artisan development is vibrant and alive and we have e very reason to be confident of the future of our artisan development system. With those few rods, I conclude by officially declaring that today, the 3rd February 2014 sees the launch of the Ten Year Ministerial advocacy programme that is Known as the Decade of the Artisan.
I thank you.
