Share this Twitter Myspace Mister Wong Bookmarks.cc Digg Del.icio.us Slashdot Netscape Furl Yahoo Technorati Newsvine Googlize this Blinklist Facebook Wikio Diggita Hear this text Export PDF Print E-mail

The new HRD strategy intends to tackle high levels of unemployment and improve the country’s economy

The South African government has launched the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) to tackle high levels of unemployment and to grow the country’s economy.

Comprising leaders from different sectors of the economy, the Council will drive skills development in South Africa. Although part of its aim is to ensure the government aids job seekers to become more competent, the HRDC will see that all divisions of employment and training assume a more meaningful role in the country.

The secretariat includes a technical working group to “execute the decisions of council on matters relating to human resource development and advise council”.

At the launch of the new Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS), Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande spoke about why a HRDS is so sorely required in South Africa:

The development of human potential is a priority for South Africa

The envisaged development and growth path for South Africa requires the participation of all South Africans in economic activity.

Our policy levers to achieve faster growth, higher employment and reduced levels of poverty include skills development to support labour-intensive industries, infrastructure investment and rural development.

Quality education is needed in early childhood education, through the years of schooling and in post-school education and training if we are to achieve all our goals.

Our legacy continues to impact on our country

What we know from our 15 years of experience of education transformation is that our patterns of inequality in education quality and outcomes are persistent and resistant to change.

Education performance still replicates patterns of poverty and privilege.The patterns of unequal educational outcomes are endlessly repeated through occupational inequalities from one generation to another.

Quality improvements across the system are not being achieved on the scale we had wished, despite our best efforts.

Other countries in the SADC [South African Development Community] with lower GDP [gross domestic product], and less expenditure on education are achieving better education outcomes.

What is the evidence for these claims?

The Human Resource Development South Africa (HRDSA) Draft Strategy for Discussion 2010-30 provides the following information.

In the school system:

• of those learners who completed Grade 9, just fewer than 90% reach Grade 10. About three-quarters reach Grade 11, and only between 55% and 60% reach Grade 12; and

• only slightly more than 46% of the 1980 to 1984 birth cohort who started Grade 1 eventually reached Grade 12.

These figures represent, in hard economic terms, major systemic inefficiencies and a waste of resources.

In human terms, what happens to young people – their self-esteem, hope and dreams – when they cannot complete basic education?

In the higher education system

Of the 120 000 undergraduates who entered higher education for the first time in 2000:

• 30% dropped out at the end of their first year of study;

• half of the cohort dropped out before completing their degrees;

• only 22% of the total cohort graduated at the end of their third or fourth year of study; and

• the remaining 28% was still studying in 2003, but would not qualify in that year.

Again, in economic terms, costly investments in university education are lost. In human terms, these patterns of failure send a dangerous social message.

Innovation, research and development

The situational analysis informs us that we are facing serious challenges to the sustainability of our national intellectual project to sustain research and innovation:

• The biggest research and development challenge lies in South Africa’s ageing and shrinking scientific population that will soon retire, leaving a serious continuity gap in key research infrastructure.

• While we recognise apartheid’s crippling structural, racial and economic ravages, we have yet to increase the number of black and women scientists, technologists and engineers in our academic ranks.

Skills development strategy

In terms of skills development, we face major challenges. If we are to succeed in removing the structural impediments to faster job growth, we must ensure that young and less skilled workers can access jobs.

We must ensure that further education and training programmes provide the real-world skills needed by public and private sector employers.

The situational analysis has shown that:

• The learnerships training has been focused on the low-skill NQF [National Qualifications Framework] band, which does not fulfil scarce-skills targets;

• Since 2000, the annual learnership output was 20 000 to 30 000 per year, with these figures declining over the last three years;

• The number of individuals writing the trade test is low;

• There is a high failure rate (about 60%) among those who take the trade test; and

• There are major challenges with placement, which impacts negatively on the production of artisans.

Labour market

The fourth component of the intersecting sub-systems comprising the HRD strategy is labour market and employment policies.

Again, the situational analysis has shown serious weaknesses which include:

• Skills shortages and mismatches;

• Few opportunities for low skilled workers who are a significant proportion of our society;

• Few alternatives for those who do not find employment, i.e. pre-employment programmes; and

• There is a correlation between educational attainment and labour market prospects.

Working together, we already have achieved a great deal

Early in 2006, under the leadership of the Presidency and in particular with the support of leaders in the labour federations, in business and civil society, the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) was formed. This initiative, albeit an important one, was a short-term response to a systemic requirement for an HRD strategy and structures that work. We will be looking to them for ongoing support.

We will continue taking forward the empirical work and studies undertaken by Jipsa, but not yet implemented.

As the Department of Higher Education and Training, we have honoured our commitment to absorb staff members of the Jipsa secretariat who wished to join us.

The government has strengthened its delivery of education and training

Recognising the challenges that we face, President Jacob Zuma has created two education departments – Basic Education, and Higher Education and Training – in order to
strengthen delivery.

We now have one education and training system, and the two departments will work closely together.

This new alignment brings possibilities of the integration of education and training, which have eluded us for many years. We now have the possibility of addressing many of the structural and systemic blockages in post-school education and training.

With the huge pool of knowledge, skills and expertise available in this council, we are confident that we will make tremendous strides in addressing the economic, social and wider development agendas.

Working together we will create the mechanisms to support all South Africans to make a meaningful contribution to our developmental agenda.

Staff writer

Source:

Address by the Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande at the inaugural plenary meeting of the Human Resource Development Council in Pretoria on
30 March 2010

Write comment

Your Contact Details:

Name:

Email: do not notifynotify

Comment:

Title:

Message:

Security

Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.