Hon Speaker, the schools of skills are one of the very important types of schools that we have. Such schools accommodate learners who cannot progress in mainstream schools, who have very low self-esteem and who have very low or no self-confidence at all. They are emotionally underdeveloped and years behind their academic peers. For these reasons, many learners cannot afford or cannot cope well within the mainstream system. So there is a need for these vocational skills or schools of skills, and we need more of them in the country.
As the committee, we visited one of the schools of skills in the Western Cape. Looking at their programmes, we could see that these schools are needed in our country, though there were challenges that we observed at some of the schools. The first challenge that we observed during our visit was that the admission criteria are still very challenging. We plead with the Department of Education to look into that and to make sure that there are more of these schools. Their admission criteria are needed.
What is important is that these schools contribute to the reduction of the unemployment rate because, after completing the programme, the learners immediately get employment. So these are the recommendations that the committee made in terms of the schools of skills.
One of the challenges in terms of the recommendations was that we need more teachers that are trained in special skills so that more of these schools can be opened. These schools must be open to learners that are interested in going to these schools in order for them to pursue their studies in scarce skills. These types of schools should be established in all provinces because when we dug deeper it was found that most of them were concentrated in the Western Cape. There are 18 schools of skills in the Western Cape. Therefore, if these schools could be established in all the provinces, it would be of great help to our country.
There should be co-ordination of all schools of skills in the provinces. We should be able to see the link between the schools of skills and the further education and training colleges, FETs, so that we don't find these learners wanting after completing their schooling programme. We believe that, together with the Department of Higher Education and Training, we are going to be able to achieve that.
Lastly, learners with learning disabilities experience emotional and psychological problems in the majority of cases. It is strongly believed and recommended that support services by social workers, remedial therapists and education psychologists be made available to learners in these schools as the needs arise. Thank you, hon Speaker. [Applause.]
There was no debate.