Nzimande commends SETAs role in facilitating skills development

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Professor Blade Nzimande, has commended the crucial role played by the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in the country’s skills development.

“As the Department of Higher Education and Training, we are proud to state that while we provide the overall strategic and policy direction, our SETAs continue to play a crucial role in implementing and facilitating skills development within their respective sectors,” Nzimande said.

Speaking at the SETA Skills Summit currently underway in Boksburg, Gauteng, Nzimande said through their sector-specific focus and experts, SETAs contribute significantly to addressing skills gaps, skills mismatches, promoting employment and enhancing productivity within their respective industries.

“Our SETAs also play a crucial role in aligning training and development efforts with the needs of employers and the labour market, thus ensuring the development of a skilled and capable workforce that can become a catalyst for economic growth and development.

“The policy context for the work that is done by our various SETAs derives from such critical policy instruments as our country’s Master Skills Plan, the White Paper for Post School Education and Training, the National Skills Development Plan, and the National Development Plan 2030,” Nzimande said.

The Minister reiterated that the policy instruments are not only critical for enabling the country to articulate and implement a coherent human resource development plan, but it also ensures that “we embrace a skills development approach that is collaborative and sustainable, as opposed to a piecemeal and competition-driven approach”.

Held under the theme, “Together, Skilling the Nation”, the two-day summit aims to provide an opportunity for the sector to reflect on its execution of the mandate of skills development.

Nzimande said the collaborative approach is important, considering the unacceptably high number of unemployed young people in the country, and the urgent challenge of people who are ‘Not in any formal Education, Employment, or Training (NEET)’.

“It is estimated that more than 3.3 million young people in our country between the ages of 15-24 are not in employment, education, and training and unemployed. This is something that must concern all of us.

“It is therefore understood that a collaborative approach will ensure a coordinated and targeted approach to skills planning, funding, quality assurance, and monitoring, resulting in a skilled and competitive workforce that contributes to economic growth and social development,” Nzimande said.

The Minister also encouraged SETAs to focus on high impact areas, including infrastructure development for the provision of service delivery; significant reduction in unemployment including graduates; sustainable entrepreneurship and cooperatives which promote elf employment; and fundamental rural development.

He also urged them to focus on digitisation and the advancement of technological infrastructure and development to benefit the country, and effective and efficient shared services on information and communications technology.