Minister of Higher Education Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande has called upon all employers to open their workplaces for the placement of both Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college students as well as to give workplace exposure to TVET college lecturers, so that what is taught is relevant and also needed by industry.
He made the call when he addressed the inaugural two-day TVET Colleges Strategic Industry Partnerships Summit aimed to establish and strengthen partnerships between TVET Colleges with host and potential employers.
The summit brings the Post School Education and Training sector, other government departments, non-governmental organisations, labour and business under one roof to discuss how to strengthen TVET colleges partnerships, particularly with regard to work-based learning.
The summit hopes to commit the public and private sector to increase the numbers of apprenticeships, internships, workplace-based experience, and opportunities for Work Integrated Learning (WIL) within the TVET sector.
It also is aimed at growing TVET colleges industry partnership base, support TVET colleges in achieving increasing levels of student placement; and market TVET colleges as partners of choice in skilling young people.
Nzimande said the primary aim of these placements was to assist the transition of young people from learning to working.
Recently, Nzimande gave a directive that all TVET college principals should sign new performance agreements that include industry partnerships as one of their key performance indicators.
He said this decision was informed by the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training which requires work-integrated learning (WIL) to be a central component of the college programmes and that the extent to which students are able to get placements in the workplace must be used as an important indicator for assessing the performance of the management of institutions.
“As TVET college principals, you owe it to the youth and the country to manage student admissions with the end in mind and this calls for the establishment of strategic partnerships with the industry.
“It will indeed be a travesty of justice and a serious indictment on us, as leaders, if we were to allow our inaction to cause TVET colleges to become a dead-end for students,” he said.
He said that he still visited too many workplaces, including those closer to TVET college campuses, but not a single TVET college student was to be found placed there.
“This must come to an end. One of our core responsibilities as leaders is to break down barriers to opportunities by creating pathways for young people to access skills training programmes, access workplace-based training, articulate into higher education, and pursue self-employment without any hindrance,” he said.
He said this summit also came in a month in which we celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18 every year. On this day, citizens of the world are called-up to make a difference in their communities.
“Today at this summit, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela, I am calling upon yourselves to take action and inspire change in the PSET sector, particularly within our TVET colleges.”
There are 50 TVET colleges operating across more than 270 campuses around the country in both rural and urban settings, and there are 21 SETAs in South Africa, covering 21 industry sector clusters.
However, the main challenge in South Africa is youth unemployment, which remains high at 66.5% for young people between the ages of 15-24 years, whereas the number of those who are not in employment, education and training is 3.4 million for the same cohort, Nzimande said.
He said the expansion of workplace-based learning opportunities for students has proven to be a challenge in the TVET college sector and this might have, in part, prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation (SONA) Address to mandate the Department of Higher Education and Training to, amongst others, place 10 000 unemployed TVET graduates in workplaces from April 2022.
In response to the SONA, Nzimande said the Department made a commitment to ensure that 10 000 TVET college graduates were offered workplace experience so that they can complete their qualifications, thus improving their prospects for employability or starting their own small businesses.
“There are signs that this partnership is beginning to work as the roles and contributions of each partner are becoming clearly defined and understood by all. Industry and workplaces are absolutely crucial as there is no artisan that can be produced only through theory without practical work experience,” he said.
“I always say employers and industry cannot be blaming the government for not producing the skills needed unless the industry is able to provide workplaces for practical experience,” he added.
Nzimande said the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) emphasises the need for industry training to be leveraged on to support the drive to build and strengthen the required skills base.
Therefore, employers cannot afford to be bystanders in the process of training artisans and other mid-level skills offered in our TVET college system, he said.
While he admitted he saw some positive changes in TVET colleges, he insisted colleges needed more and better support.
He said that by 2030, TVET colleges must be strong differentiated institutions, offering a range of high-quality programmes preparing students for the world of work and entrepreneurship. They must offer qualifications that are responsive to the needs of students, as well as regional and national skills demand.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Education