Together building skills “on the Job” and making every workplace a training space!
Programme Director
PRASA CEO: Mr Lucky Montana & Staff
SETA CEO’s
Representatives of government and industry
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am overwhelmed by the honour bestowed on me today to officially launch your “On The Job” Built Environment Training Programme. I would also like to extend greetings from the Honourable Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande.
It is indeed a pleasure for me to address this ground-breaking gathering today. I am extremely pleased that this initiative seeks to make sector skills training and development a national priority especially in the built environment, as one of South Africa’s critical and scarce skills that is experiencing dire shortage.
Our Government adopted twelve key outcomes as a means to address five key priorities the ruling party identified, which are, job creation, education, health, crime and rural development. Our Department, Higher Education and Training (DHET) is mandated to lead the realisation of outcome 5, that of producing a ‘skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path’.
Following the establishment of our department in 2009, the mandate for Higher Education and Training required that we do things differently, and cardinal on our mandate has been to build a fully integrated, yet differentiated post school system for the country, capable of giving practical deliverables to the key outcome allocated thereto.
The Minister of Higher Education and Training launched the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) III in January 2011, ushering in a groundswell for a skills revolution in the country and also charting a new direction in so far as skills development is concerned.
Government has further made the creation of employment and decent work its number one priority for the current period. Education and training are a critical component of this priority both in the short, medium and long term. The New Growth Path speaks clearly to this priority and reflects on the important role of education and training.
The National Development Plan also argues that education, training and innovation are not a solution to all problems, but society’s ability to solve problems, develop competitively, eliminate poverty and reduce inequality is severely hampered without them.
Furthermore, there is the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) which anchors skills as a critical component of achieving growth and development of the various priority economic sectors, with particular emphasis on building the productive sectors of our economy, especially manufacturing. This very brief reflection points to a very critical aspect in relation to Passenger Rail Agency of South African (PRASA).
Programme Director,
PRASA is a critical component of the economic sectors in the country and its role goes beyond just ferrying citizens, in fact, it oils the economy of the country day in and day out.
Similarly, the institutions of higher learning within the ambit of our department have an even greater role and responsibility in the functioning of our economy. The output from these institutions is not for the sake of producing graduates but it is to a large extent to ensure that the economic sectors have the required skilled labour force to achieve the necessary growth, which is so critical for addressing the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality in our country.
Therefore, as a country we cannot be proud of our education and training institutions, including those responsible for skills development,
1.When there are about 5 000 University of Technology students who cannot complete their studies and graduate because they do not have the workplace-learning component required of them. On the other hand we have SETAs which have the capacity and resources to facilitate this through capable industry and state owned companies.
Nor can we be proud:
2.When there are over 20 000 Further Education and Training (FET) college students who have completed the academic component but cannot qualify for any occupation because they cannot access workplace learning.
The SETAs have learnerships which are fully funded through the Skills Development Levy but most of these learnerships do not align with the needs of the students who are in our public institutions.
Programme Director,
SETAs have the closest relationship with employers and are best placed to facilitate work integrated learning and we believe that working closely with them we can eliminate some of these barriers.
As part of addressing the above and other challenges we, as government, have signed a Skills Accord in July last year together with labour, business and community constituencies at National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC). We urge everyone to study this accord as all our efforts should be guided by its provisions and through this Accord we want to turn every workplace a training space!
Programme Director,
As a country despite the billions of rands spent on education, training and skills development, we are still sitting with over 3 million young people who are not in employment, education and/or any form of training.This is a waste of human capital to our labour market and all of us should be preoccupied with finding ways and means to address this problem before it explodes.
The rural areas of our country are being depleted while the urban areas are over-burdened, with increasing numbers of people seeking economic freedom in these urban areas. A false impression is created that there are no possibilities of creating viable economic activities in the rural areas, hence the unsustainable migration to the urban areas. Cabinet had resolved that we need to pay more attention to rural areas, in line with the priority of government to develop rural areas.
Programme Director,
The Skills need for rural development is a critical area that requires a concerted and well-coordinated effort if we are to turn the situation around. The NSDS III is emphatic on the need to provide appropriate training in rural areas to address specific needs that will contribute to the thorough-going transformation and development in these areas.
On the same note, we need to augment the fact that a crucial component of skills development is that of resourcing and promoting vocational education and training. South Africa needs a radical break with the false notion that post school education only means university education. Not everyone needs to or wants to go to university after high school and therefore Vocational Education and Training (VET) must be seen as a viable option by many young people.
This is despite the fact that worldwide, VET comprises the largest component of post secondary education and training, with universities making up a smaller component. The question is why is this the case in South Africa and how do we reverse the situation, and give the public confidence that Vocational Education and Training is valuable but it also enhances employability and self-sustaining economic activity?
Programme Director,
The department is on a massive drive to make Further Education and Training (FET) colleges’ institutions of choice. We are aware that the success rate has been low for a while, the employability rate was also as low coupled with poor linkages between colleges and industry. This, however, has improved significantly in the previous academic year; thus, our drive is to produce more skilled graduates for our skill-starved labour market. We have also listened to industry raising concerns with regard to skills shortages, especially of the middle level skills and we have accepted their offer to support teaching and learning in FET colleges.
As part of government's contribution to turning every workplace into a training space, we intend to increase learnerships at all levels of government, and we expect state owned enterprises and government agencies including PRASA, to do the same. Priority should be given to learnerships and apprenticeships for FET students and students from the universities of technology.Promoting our public institutions and output thereof is our collective responsibility, as the state spends billions every year on our education system.
Programme Director,
I am honestly pleased by this initiative undertaken by PRASA, however, we must not be complacent. I see this initiative as a beginning of a long and difficult journey that we will have to walk together to address the challenges I have outlined above and many others I have not touched on here. We know the problems, let us act and work together in addressing these problems.
Indeed we must make every workplace a training space!
The step that PRASA has taken with this initiative signals that we are all beginning to move in one direction and have all heeded to the call of skills revolution in our country. We need to pull harder and take those who are weaker with us.
Programme Director,
You may be very aware that a few years ago, SASOL imported a particular type of welders because we were not producing this particular type of skill in the country. Last year the Medupi project required the same type of welders and we still were not producing these welders (or so it is alleged). The project was therefore left with no option but to import these skills. A strike ensued in Limpopo, with locals contending that the project should not overlook them and employ foreigners.
If this is the case, why have we not produced these ‘coded welders, as they are called, when we have about R8 billion in the SETA system? In the planning process of the Medupi project, why have we not managed to identify the skills that will be required for this kind of projects? Do we have capacity in our colleges to teach these specialised skills?
Programme Director,
I am posing these questions deliberately, as PRASA seeks to embark on a huge re-investment drive, aiming at replacing the running stock of coaches, a project that is estimated to span over 20 years. I am raising these questions because I want PRASA to be aware that another accord signed by the social partners at NEDLAC calls upon industry and Government to make a point that in this infrastructure development commitment, 75% of content (skills, products, etc) is sourced locally.
This places a great challenge on your organisation as the whole country is watching to see whether we will continue throwing resources outside our borders or not. However, I trust that PRASA is up to the challenge.
Working with our post-school learning institutions, PRASA and DHET have identified 40 students, between the age of 21 - 35 from previously disadvantaged communities who have made it through their academic training programmes to be employed on PRASA’s Built Environment and Training Programme.
These students would be employed for a period of three months, during which they would receive supervision from experienced professionals in the built environment. The identified areas of training for the first phase includes: B-Tech Architecture, B-Tech Construction Management, and B-Tech Quantity Surveyor.
Most assuredly, this programme offers great hope for our country. These skills are direly needed and everything should be done in our power to ensure the success and sustainability of this programme.
Once more, our department welcomes this initiative and feels proud to work in partnership with an important stakeholder like PRASA in delivering the skills our labour market requires.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate PRASA on such a progressive initiative and also congratulate the students that are part of the programme. We wish you all the best and we have a firm belief that you will make us all proud going into the future.
I thank you very much.
For inquiries kindly contact:
Kagisho Mamabolo
Cell 071 304 8103/076 810 8000
E-mail: mamabolo.k@dhet.gov.za
