BuaNews (Tshwane)
Siboniso Ntuli
29 February 2008
Pietermaritzburg — KwaZulu-Natal Finance and Economic Development MEC Zweli Mkhize has allocated R1.8 billion for developing scarce skills among youth and the unemployed in the province.
In his provincial Budget Speech on Thursday, MEC Mkhize said: "In keeping with the national priorities outlined in the State of the Nation Address ... the massification of the skills development effort is going to be a key focus of the provincial government in the next three years."
The scarce skills development programme will be carried out through the Department of Education's Further Education and Training (FET) programmes over the next three years.
Almost 345 000 students will be trained through these FET programmes over the next three years, the Department of Finance and Economic Development said.
In addition to this training, the department will be engaging with the Department of Education to extend its FET training programmes, to provide artisan training to students in fields relevant to the automotive and construction industries.
"With the current boom in the civil construction industry expected to increase further as we approach 2010, it is essential that we can meet the demand for technical skills at all levels." MEC Mkhize said.
He said with this budget, they want to focus on the sectors that demand skills and also provide opportunities and apprentices among the people.
"We are investigating a number of initiatives to address the issue of technical and professional skills shortage in the province.
"The Department of Education and Economic Development are collaborating on a major research study, aimed at quantifying skills needed in the economy, sector by sector in order to achieve the sectoral and aggregated growth targets in our province for purpose of dedicated and targeted funding," Mr Mkhize said.
The MEC also revealed another initiative that involves establishing a specialised institution for accelerated training in mathematics, science and information communication technology.
This project will be implemented in partnership with the National Research Foundation, national Department of Science and Technology, the provincial Department of Economic Development, Education and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The institute will operate using connected Information Technology (IT) systems to reach large number of students in various locations, focusing on the teaching of maths, science, IT and bridging the gab between schools and universities.
Dr Mkhize said it's most important objectives are to improve the quality of teaching in the schools and drastically upscale the quantum of students matriculating with mathematics and science.
The overall province's budget for 2008/09 is R51.1 billion.
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