Chairperson, hon members and comrades, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the Higher Education Laws Amendment Bill, the Skills Development Levies Amendment Bill and the Higher Education and Training Laws Amendment Bill to this honourable House.
These legislative amendments further enable the transfer of functions vested previously with the former Department of Education, and with the Departments of Labour and Basic Education, to the Department of Higher Education and Training.
In the past 16 months, since the establishment of the Department of Higher Education and Training, we have made great strides in laying the foundation for a truly comprehensive and differentiated post-school system, conjoining the education and training sectors.
In 1994, we inherited the outcomes of a deliberate policy aimed at the underdevelopment of our people. Education performance still replicates patterns of poverty and privilege. The patterns of unequal educational outcomes are endlessly repeated through occupational inequalities from one generation to another.
Nevertheless, this ANC led-government of 16 years has made great efforts in denting many of these problems. This must be seen as another step in building upon some of those achievements and seeking to overcome bottlenecks. In the coming months, we need to make far-reaching changes to improve the provision of postschool opportunities for the youth in particular but for adults too. We also intend to accelerate our efforts in dealing with some of the fundamental challenges in the system including skills bottlenecks, especially in respect of priority and scarce skills; low participation rates; distortions in shape, size and distribution of access to postschool education and training; and quality and inefficiency challenges.
To address these and other impediments to our economic and social goals, we require significant policy and legislative changes and improvements.
Therefore, this amended legislation before the House will remove some of the difficulties and hurdles in the way of policy development.
The transformation and expansion of the Higher Education and Training landscape will have a direct bearing on government's overall mission for economic growth and development, especially for the benefit of the workers and the poor of our country.
My performance agreement with the President based on Outcome 5 of Government's Programme of Action, "A skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path", sets the agenda for the work of my department. Hon members, this outcome requires a major redesign of how government and its partners have been operating in the area of human resources development.
To guide our work, the human resources development strategy, which is in its final draft, will soon be launched by the Deputy President. Regarding the work of my department specifically, we have begun the process of drafting a Green Paper on Higher Education and Training, which will require a broader, long-term view of the post-schooling system we wish to create.
The year 2010 has been momentous for my department in respect of the regimen of stakeholder partnerships we have created. In April, we held a landmark Stakeholder Summit on Higher Education Transformation, which brought together a spectrum of the higher education community in order to confront the challenges in the university sector.
Earlier this month, we held two extremely successful dialogues: the Further Education and Training, FET, College Summit and the National Skills Summit. The FET College Summit was a thorough engagement among stakeholders on how to stabilise the sector and make colleges pillars of the skills development revolution in our country.
We set a process in place for action in the immediate, medium and long-term to support FET colleges to function as high-quality institutions that can respond to national education and training challenges.
Last week's National Skills Summit saw government and our social partners in organised labour, business, representative community structures, professional bodies, research, education and training institutions, and skills development intermediaries resolving to work together to effect a skills revolution in our country.
The discussions and final declaration set out a detailed map to tackle the skills challenges, from second-chance learning and adult education to high- level research and innovation. Chairperson, today, I table a copy of the declaration for the information of members.
The outcomes of all the three summits will form the basis of the Green Paper that is aimed at surveying the postschool education and training landscape, and setting out the policy and legislative changes needed to support our strategic objectives.
I wish to thank the chairperson, Comrade Marius Fransman, and all the members of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training for the sterling work they have done in holding public hearings and also interrogating these Bills. We will continue to work with them in relation to the extensive work required to create an articulated system, which is able to embrace those who are unable to access learning and skills opportunities, as well as to bridge the divides between institutions of learning and the workplace.
Kafushane nje le mithetho eyisichibiyelo esiyenzayo lapha, eyokwenza ukuthi sakhe isisekelo esiqinile ukuthi izingane zakithi zikwazi ukuthola imfundo yokuqhubekela phambili emva kwesikole. Siyabonga kakhulu. [In short, these laws that we are amending here are to ensure that we lay a strong foundation so that our children will be able to get postschool education. We thank you very much.]
Even though hon Mike Ellis was busy in conversation throughout my input here this afternoon, Chairperson, I thank you very much. [Applause.]