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13 February 2007

Further Education and Training (FET) student bursaries

The FET colleges have taken a central place in the skills development terrain. The colleges are now semi-autonomous at the same time as substantial resources are being provided for the recapitalisation of the institutions and the development of teaching staff. Most of the recapitalisation funds have been committed, and the remaining funds for 2007 will be used to enhance Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) connectivity in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo colleges.

In addition, bursaries have now been provided to over 20 000 students studying in the fields of scarce skills: engineering, construction, ICTs, business studies, hospitality and so on. They will study in-depth courses, which have been developed together with the relevant industry players, and will emerge ready and able to take up employment in the sector.

About 22 000 students have registered for FET college programmes, leading to a National Certificate (vocational), and the areas of ICT and Construction are over-subscribed at present.

Top 100 schools

We are establishing a "Top 100" club of schools. In order to qualify schools will need to have passed at least 100 learners in Maths. The first membership certificates for the "100 Club" will he given to 14 schools at the Most Improved School Awards in March this year.

Higher Education

While universities overall begin to engage with a re-alignment of the sector towards the social and economic needs of the country, targeted funding has been provided to some institutions. In 2006, some R48 million was distributed to four successful Faculties of Engineering as an encouragement to do more in this regard.

National Qualifications Framework (NQF)

On the matter of the NQF, it is our desire to conclude the lengthy review process as soon as possible. I am pleased to report that finality has been reached on almost every aspect of the review process, and remaining issues will be submitted to Cabinet shortly for a final decision.

National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS)

The second phase of the National Skills Development Strategy 2005—2010 will be coming to an end on 31 March 2007. Good results continue to be achieved in the numbers of learners being registered in a variety of learning programmes linked to the national scarce and critical skills list and Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) projects.

Since 2001 when the first phase of the NSDS 2001 -2005 was launched until the end of September 2006, a total of 325 247 learners have been registered on accredited occupational based learning programmes. From April 2005 to December 2006 another 10 915 apprenticeships were registered. Therefore, on the assumption that a genuine artisan is only developed through the apprenticeship learning pathway only, an assumption that can be challenged, it means that since 200l we have registered 47 618 artisans to end of December 2006.

National Certificate Vocational

We must not forget that as the National Certificate: Vocational is rolled out by the FET colleges, even more learners are going to need workplaces to complete their learning in the workplace before becoming artisans. FET colleges are looking at enrolling 400 000 learners per year, at least half of whom will probably be in trade related fields. We will need 200 000 work places per year to accommodate such learners.

Sport and recreation

The skills development in sports and recreation was developed by the National Sports Council (NSC), in conjunction with sport authorities and specialists from Australia, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA). To ensure continuity of this noble cause, and also in compliance with the National Skills Act and recently, in compliance with the requirements of AsgiSA, the new structure of Sports and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) made provision for an Education and Training sub-directorate. This sub-directorate co-ordinates the skills development initiatives of the department.

The training programmes that the Department is involved in include the following:

* Skills Programme for Sport and Recreation Leaders, which was awarded full accreditation in 2006. This course is at NQF level 4.
* Skills Programme for Generic Sports Coaching, which was awarded full accreditation in December 2006. This course is at NQF level 5.
* Skills Programmes for Sport and Recreation Managers with specialisation in Facility Management, Event Management and Team Management are being developed. This course will he pitched at NQF level 5.
* Facilitation Skills in Sport and Recreation [aligned with Education Training and Development Practices (ETDP) Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) unit standard] is in the final testing process.
* Non-credit bearing training (covering Indigenous Games Leader; Generic Life Skills for Athletes, which is still at draft phase; Volunteer training - for National and International Events; as well as Financial Management for National Federations, Training on corporate governance in sport is also earmarked for inclusion as part of National Federations training).
* The long-term plan for the Department is to align these non-credit bearing training programmes as "building blocks" of appropriate qualifications.

Issued by: Ministry of Education
12 February 2007