Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, ladies and gentlemen, protocol is observed. Allow me to start by saying that our approach to education derives its inspiration from the Freedom Charter. The Charter says, and I quote:
The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace; education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal to all children; higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit.
The ANC sought a review of government's plan to fund education, with due regard to the provision of educational resources for the poor and by analysing factors contributing to the growing cost of education. The introduction of no-fee schools has contributed significantly to access. The government, led by the ANC, can celebrate that more than five million learners are the beneficiaries of attending no-fee schools. This constitutes approximately 40% of the total number of schools and represents huge strides in creating a caring society and fulfilling the right to free basic education.
The focus must continue to be on improving on the provision of resources to schools to redress inequalities and enhance the quality of education among the masses of our people. To increase the number of no-fee schools in terms of the January 8 Statement, consider measures to support schools that have good results but a low-fee income. Introduce policy or legislation to deal with more equitable allocation of resources. An investigation should be undertaken by the Ministry in respect of retention of learners in the Further Education and Training band and the alternative career paths chosen by learners after the compulsory period of learning. Universities providing access and quality outcomes in engineering and other identified important relevant fields must be additionally resourced.
In 2011 the Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, entered a new phase. During the new phase, the Department of Higher Education and Training made some fundamental changes to the leadership, governance and strategy of the Setas, in order to meet the objectives of the National Skills Development Strategy 3, NSDS 3, and to improve their functioning and performance.
Our intention is to set up a comprehensive performance monitoring, evaluation and support system for all our education, training and skills development institutions, with a particular focus on the Setas and Further Education and Training, FET, colleges. The real value added by the Setas is their understanding of labour-market issues in their respective industrial and economic sectors.
The Setas must ensure that they are backed by employers and workers, and are acknowledged as a credible and authoritative voice on skills. They must create interventions and shape solutions that address skills needs within their sectors. The Setas must become recognised experts in relation to skills demand within their sectors.
Central to the objectives of the NSDS 3 is the improved placement of both students and graduates, especially from the FET colleges and universities of technology. In addition, the NSDS will place particular emphasis on skills development to support government's goal for rural development. Significant work was done during the period of NSDS 1 and NSDS 2. Many important building blocks were put in place. However, the economy remains constrained by a severe lack of skills, and the skills development system as a whole has not yet achieved what was expected.
Therefore this strategy draws on lessons learned from NSDS 1 and 2 and is aimed at ensuring improved access to quality learning programmes, increased relevance of skills development interventions and building strong partnerships between stakeholders and social partners.
The National Skills Development Strategy 3 responds to the following pressing challenges that are impacting on the ability of our economy to expand and provide increased employment opportunities: Firstly, the inadequate skills level and poor work readiness of many young people leaving formal secondary and tertiary education and entering the labour market for the first time is compounded by inadequate linkages between institutional and workplace learning, thus reducing the employability and work readiness of the successful graduates from FET and HET institutions, not to mention the many who enter the world of work without a formal qualification.
Secondly, there is the desperate plight of so many long-term unemployed who lack basic numeracy and literacy skills, do not possess entry-level skills, and do not have the work experience and work-based training needed to enable them to seek and obtain work. Thirdly, there is the continuing skills shortage in the artisanal, technical and professional fields that are fundamental to the development and growth of our economy.
There is an overemphasis on National Qualifications Framework, NQF, level 1 to 3 learnerships, with insufficient progression towards more appropriate skills required for growth in a knowledge economy. There is a need for much more substantial programmes that improve qualifications, support career- pathing, enable greater flexibility and mobility, and increase productivity.
There is a failure by businesses in many sectors of the economy to equip their workforce to adapt to change as the economy becomes more knowledge- based. When structural change occurs, too often the outcome is retrenchment rather than the retraining and redeployment of working people.
There are systematic blockages such as a lack of synergy between the various postschool subsystems like universities, FET colleges and Setas; a lack of clarity in relation to the role expected of the various parts of the skills development system; and inefficiency and a wasteful silo mentality which prevents the partnerships and alignments needed to improve effectiveness. [Inaudible.]
The absence of coherent strategies within the economic and industrial sector is compounded by the lack of systematic skills development to support and sustain growth and development. The urban bias of our economic development, and therefore the urban bias in our skills development initiatives, results in skills for rural development being neglected.
The intention of NSDS 3 is to make sure that the energy and resources of education and training stakeholders are focused on ensuring that these challenges are addressed and that measurable impact is achieved over the coming five-year period.
A particular focus of NSDS 3 is artisans. To facilitate the realisation of the aforementioned objectives with regard to the development of artisans, the Department of Higher Education and Training has established the National Artisan Moderating Body, NAMB, whose main statutory functions include: setting standards for quality artisan training; monitoring the performance of and moderating accredited artisan trade test centres; developing, maintaining and applying a national databank of instruments for assessment and moderation of artisan trade tests; and developing and maintaining a national database of registered artisan trade assessors and moderators.
In November 2009, through a proclamation, the President shifted the skills development function from the Department of Labour to the Department of Higher Education and Training, to further operationalise the creation of an integrated education and training system. It could not be a transfer to a new department and a continuation of business as usual ... The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]