Pretoria — Public Enterprise Minister Alec Erwin has welcomed an initiative by state-owned arms developer Denel, to train young people in the areas of mathematics and science.

"The Department of Public Enterprises is delighted to be associated with the Denel Youth Foundation Training (DYFT), through its shareholding of Denel.

"We all know that South Africa does not have enough matriculants with higher-grade maths and science," Minister Erwin said Monday in his address to learners at the Denel Centre for Learning and Development (DCLD).

The DYFT seeks to address the shortage of learners with mathematics and science by offering learners a second chance to matriculate with mathematcis and science on higher grade, he explained.

"It is a bold step to ensure that the foundation of our future for South Africa is firmly rooted in an education that provides further learning opportunities to these young people."

Minimum entrance requirements into the programme are a Grade 10 education (N1) with mathematics and science as school subjects.

The DCLD was established to increase local skills and expertise in the aerospace and defence industry.

It places emphasis on developing women and previously disadvantaged groups. In this year alone, the programme's intake comprised 70 percent women, mostly from rural areas, said Denel.

According to the organisation, the DCLD is the largest public skills-development and training programme in Africa for the aerospace and defence industry.

Coupled with this, the programme is keen to contribute to the government's Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).

Mathematics, science and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are among the working areas for JIPSA, identified at the national initiative's inception last year.

JIPSA is complimentary to the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), which aims to secure 6 percent annual economic growth by 2010 and halve poverty and unemployment by 2014.

The DCLD programme includes 100 apprentices sponsored by Eskom, linked to the JIPSA initiative, 30 learners from the youth foundation programme who are upgrading their mathematics and science, 250 from the Department of Defence, 30 from Transnet, 10 from the Department of Public enterprises and 5 from Denel itself.

Once the course is completed, the learners will be placed in the respective organisations.

The courses are accredited by the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) and the Aerospace Chamber, to offer training according to the Competency Based Modular Training system.

The Denel School of Aerospace, in conjunction with Denel, offer opportunities to prospective apprentices in the following fields: Aircraft Mechanic, Aircraft Structural Worker, Fitter and turner, Turner Machinist, Toolmaker, Aircraft Radiotrician, Aircraft Electrician, Aircraft Avionician, and Machine Tool Millwright.