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MECs
Director-General
Heads of Provincial Education Departments
Sponsors
Officials
FET Colleges Council Chairpersons
FET College Principals
Invited guests
The Further Education and Training college sector has, for a long
time, been the Cinderella of our education system. In the
post-Apartheid democratic South Africa of the twenty-first century,
this cannot continue to be the case.
By far the most devastating effect of the apartheid legacy has been
its assault upon our young people. The system deliberately excluded
the majority of our youth and young adults from education and
training opportunities and provided education of a poor quality to
a select few. The effects of this racially based and socially
engineered dehumanisation process continues to haunt us to this
day. The shortage in key skills, the high rate of unemployment and
the abject poverty afflicting our people are to a great extent a
result of the education and training policies of the past. These
are real results of a past that deliberately set out to exclude and
deprive the majority of one of the most human basic rights,
education.
The politically motivated choices, actions and inactions as well as
outright neglect had adverse effects to the prospects of one of the
critical pillars of our education system the Further Education and
Training band. The sector still bears the scars of
marginalisation.
Although the emergence of the technical colleges network of
institutions coincided with and followed global trends, the racial
segregationist policies of the time skewed the developments and
gave a political flavour that was to determine the destiny and fate
of many of these institutions. Following on the economic boom, a
Vocational Education and Training system evolved between the 1940s
and 1960s. The Job Reservation Act of the 1950s reserved skilled
work for white workers and relegated blacks to low or semi-skilled
jobs. The economic boom of the 1960s and early 1970s raised the
demand for skills and put a severe strain on job reservation.
This coupled with the policy of industrial decentralisation, which
encouraged employers, through incentives, to move to homelands led
to an increase in the demand for skilled labour. Black workers were
soon to be absorbed into the jobs formerly reserved for whites but
at lower job designations and lower rates of pay.
Technical colleges provided for the skills needs. However, their
emergence was not part of a carefully thought-out systemic
approach, linked to an economic development strategy. Most were
born out of political expediency rather than sound educational or
economic considerations. Education institutions, including
technical colleges, were used as tools to reward political loyalty
and support. The result was a technical colleges landscape that was
ad hoc in nature and unrelated to the economic and social needs of
the country. Before long technical colleges were lying almost on
top of each other, working in competition to each other and
characterised by endemic tension, overlap and duplication.
This situation was made worse by the lack of political will and
capacity to develop the majority of the institutions located
outside designated white areas. It is with this context in mind
that we should understand the nature of the sector we inherited. We
need to know the past in order to understand the present and to
determine the future. It is also in the light of this backdrop, and
in keeping with the values enshrined in our Constitution that we
can state that this dark chapter in the history of our education
system and our development as a nation will be closed
forever.
When we began our transformation processes in 1994, we conveyed our
vision and commitment to a quality FET system for all our people.
Never again shall any group be denied access to learning
opportunities and be subjected to ridicule and indignity.
As we ventured into the new democratic era and took upon ourselves
the responsibilities to reconstruct and develop our country we were
keenly aware of a new set of challenges. Key amongst these has been
the need for increased redress and equity without compromising on
quality and global competitiveness.
When the idea to merge the 152 technical colleges was first mooted
it invoked strong reactions from many. Most who objected did so on
the basis that merging historically white state aided colleges with
their historically black state colleges was tantamount to a
lowering of standards and that it would force all the colleges to
march at the pace of the slowest. This, it was argued, would take
us many years back and work against the country's growing prospects
as a major player and competitor in the global arena.
We listened carefully to these arguments but remained resolute in
our mission to lay a solid foundation for a modern and high quality
sector that could respond effectively to the imperatives of the
Government's Human Resource Development Strategy. For the first
time in the history of education in the country, we set out to
advance the principles enshrined in our constitution and the Bill
of Rights and linked this tightly to the imperative for economic
development and growth through the Human Resource Development
Strategy.
In our pursuit of this important goal we have identified the need
for connecting three critical components, namely, education, skills
development and enterprise education.
Whilst recognising that education is not a cure for all social
ills, we continue to assert the important role education plays in
improving the quality of life of people. Education may not be a
miracle cure, but no one can deny that it has a very important role
to play in building the new national identity which embraces
diversity and creating a learning nation that accommodates and
meets the demands for personal, social and economic
development.
On the other hand skills development has been highlighted as a key
determinant of social exclusion and poverty. Unless the workforce
has the appropriate skills and competences economic growth,
development and global competitiveness remain pipedreams. As
recognised by the Government's Human Resource Development Strategy,
the FET colleges are best positioned to provide intermediate skills
needed for economic growth. Given that the provision of education
in the FET band is relatively less costly but has more returns for
investment, there is no doubt that our interventions will yield the
required results.
It is very important that there should be a focus on enterprise
development. Education providers are faced with a huge challenge to
prepare students for unknown jobs. Studies indicate that new
entrants in the labour market will retrain about 13 times before
their retirement. This leads to an increasing difficulty in
training people for specific non-dynamic jobs. The nature of the
jobs as we have known them is changing rapidly. In that case
therefore our public institutions have to move with the times and
produce entrepreneurs who are able to reinvent themselves, to be
creative and original, and to problem solve.
We have to be innovative. We cannot continue to offer more of the
same old programmes that were designed during the Apartheid era.
Hanging on to the old will further condemn the colleges, and by
extension our students, to their previous Cinderella status. Our
students must be given access to jobs and careers that, under
Apartheid, were reserved for certain sections of our
population.
The apartheid education and training systems were premised on an
artificial divide between head and hand, between theory and
practice. Georgi Dimitrov once said: "Theory without practice is
barren. Practice without theory is blind." The almost exclusive
emphasis on practical ability in many of the technical college
programmes inherited from Apartheid cannot continue to hold. We
have to create a healthy balance between head and hand, and also
move further to introduce the heart into the equation. That is, we
should incorporate values into our programmes.
The economic realities that indicate an exponential growth in the
significance of rural and informal economies, the rise of the
services sector, the rise in higher skills jobs, and the decline of
low skills labour and the dominance of information technology place
major challenges to institutions in this sector.
The vision that we crafted more that five years ago still holds.
Two years ago, I shared with you the decisive measures the
Government would be taking to ensure the kind of transformation we
are looking for. These included critical measures to restructure
the technical college institutional landscape, to build a new
sector of larger, stronger multi-campus institutions, and that we
would be putting in place some of the other essential building
blocks for a modern, responsive high-quality Further Education and
Training College system offering economic and social skills for the
21st Century.
In setting out these goals, I made it clear that the transformation
we were calling for required courage and commitment on the part of
all of us who are involved with our colleges. In particular, I
called for courage and commitment from our college leaders and
managers, who would have to manage a challenging and sometimes
daunting process of change and development on the ground.
Given the strides we have made I find it necessary to place on
record both mine and my Department's recognition for and
appreciation of the courage and commitment that has been shown by
the vast majority of our college leaders, managers, staff and
students. Provincial departments have also had a critical role to
play. The past two years have been a period of considerable
uncertainty and anxiety for many of you, and you have been required
to make decisions and take actions in the best interests of your
institutions, and indeed in the best interests of the new
institutions that have been created, even where this may appear to
have placed your own position in jeopardy. I want to thank one and
all for rising to this challenge, and for setting aside personal
interests and concerns in order to help us build our new
institutions. Thank you for you loyalty and your
professionalism.
Today, at this very moment, I am pleased to launch the new 50
stronger, multi-campus FET colleges with a total of 6 756 teaching
and 3 636 non-teaching staff. This moment marks the beginning of a
new era. This launch marks the completion of the initial phase,
achievement of the New Public FET Institutional Landscape for our
colleges as planned in September 2001. Our vision is that these new
colleges will become significant players in their local and
regional environments and that some of them will become nationally
and internationally recognised centres of excellence, with niche
specialisations that serve the entire country. We have attempted to
place the colleges in strategic positions so that they can continue
to modernise and upgrade their delivery in response to the growing
and changing demands for economic growth and social development. We
want you to become the single biggest contributor of intermediate
and higher skills to support employment as set out in our Human
Resource Development Strategy.
Public FET colleges already show that they will play a significant
role in the Government's campaign to significantly increase the
number and quality of learnerships. The Department of Education and
the Department of Labour have launched a campaign to establish, as
a start, at least one learnership programme per SETA in each
college. To date 29 colleges have been supported to recruit 2000
learners into 208 programmes across 8 SETAs. This does not include
learnerships and skills programmes, which colleges have initiated
in partnership with industry, commerce and local communities.
We have not been able to get this far by ourselves. The Department
of Education supported by the business community and our
international donor friends have put in place a number of capacity
building programmes. These include, among others, the Tirisano
International Exchange Programme (IEP) programme and the joint
KPMG/National Business Initiative programme. These are programmes
that are aimed at developing the capacities of senior and middle
management in the newly merged public FET colleges. To date the
public FET College sector has benefited from an investment of over
R270 million through nationally directed support programmes
investing in the development of skills for our college
personnel.
Also at the last FET Annual Convention, the Department launched the
Ministerial College Award programme. This programme serves as an
incentive to strive for positive change and pro-activeness by FET
colleges. This encourages colleges to put appropriate management,
administration, learner support, financial and marketing systems in
place. I intend to run this award annually in order to acknowledge
and motivate colleges in the daunting task of transforming
education and training in this sector.
Late last year, I declared 2003 the Year of FET, and envisaged a
set of activities which would profile and establish a base upon
which the next six years of change would be built. I hope today's
formal launch of our public FET colleges will contribute to the
profiling of the sector.
Early last year, 2002, we began turning the levers of change for
this next phase in the transformation process. We now have a draft
National Curriculum Framework that sets the parameters for
development of responsive programmes as well as a FET Funding
Framework, both of which will be released for the public comment as
part of the Year of FET.
We are working on systems and capacity-building programmes for
colleges financed through state and donor support. We envisage a
support model that will provide assistance on-site in a
differentiated approach to each college.
It is with great pleasure that I announce that a sum of R11 million
is available immediately for our colleges to utilise in the
consolidation of the merger process. I shall also approach the
Minister of Finance and the Treasury to seek conditional grants for
innovation in the colleges.
A recent audit by one of our partners from the business sector
indicates that colleges are currently funded by the Government to
the tune of R840 million. College income stands at R440
million.
Let me also acknowledge that, while the Department of Education has
been ploughing much of its energies into the restructuring of the
institutional landscape and the conclusion of institutional
mergers, the colleges have been going quietly about their
day-to-day business of educating our people and serving
communities. The updated situational analysis of colleges conducted
under the auspices of the Colleges Collaboration Fund, whose major
contribution is acknowledged here today, indicates a number of
achievements.
Student enrolments are up by 17% since 1998. The number of learners
in non-formal skills programs has expanded quite significantly,
showing that colleges are seeking new ways to provide relevant
training and skills to their communities. The overall student
population of the colleges is now fully representative of the
demographics of our country. Steady progress has also been made
with respect to the race and gender profile of college staff. A
number of colleges have begun initiatives that link them to
partnerships with business.
In short, there is much for colleges to be proud of and much for us
to celebrate here this evening.
While there is an upward trend in student numbers, it is far from
what we should be aiming for to ensure that the tide turns in
favour of the college sector. In this regard I challenge the
college communities to achieve a minimum of 5% year-on-year
increase in enrolments, and a 5% improvement in pass rates.
I welcome, this evening, the new principals and chairpersons of
college councils with a challenge to consolidate the gains, meet
the challenges, and to accelerate the pace of transformation of our
FET colleges. You have been identified as people with the necessary
attributes of vision, courage, leadership and knowledge to lead our
new institutions into the next era. We are confident that you will
not fail us, as the continuing and increasing success of our
democracy and the livelihood and well being of our people depends
in no small measure on your achievements. As I have already
indicated, you are not alone. We will be walking with you. But let
me also say that we will be less tolerant to poor or lack of
performance.
There are other challenges. While there are immediate gains, on
paper at least, from the mergers - for example the larger scale of
operations, enhanced management capacity, greater financial
viability and so on - translating these paper gains into reality
will require hard work, guts and commitment. We know from the
business world that many mergers often fail because of conflicting
organisational cultures, as well as from failures really to
integrate the operations and achieve the benefits that the
architects of the merger anticipated.
I am aware of the unevenness in management capacity, financial
management expertise, governance capacity, and institutional
capacity to deliver relevant curricula across colleges and campus
sites. The audit of colleges I mentioned earlier identified three
categories of colleges. Ten (10) colleges are regarded to be
high-risk, 30 are regarded as medium-risk, and 10 are regarded as
low-risk institutions depending on how they fare in relation to
indicators I have just mentioned.
The college councils, the new principals and the management of
these colleges will be required to provide a unifying vision and
focus for the work of the institution. They will have to manage
firmly but sensitively the integration of institutional cultures
and the building of trust and a shared sense of purpose amongst
diverse and often geographically separated staff. They will also
have to show generosity and a wider institutional loyalty in
ensuring that the resources of the new college are equitably shared
and that all students, wherever they are located, are given equal
opportunities to learn and to succeed.
I have already alluded to the many challenges and tasks still
facing the colleges as they strive to make the mergers work and to
deliver better quality services to our community. As a Ministry and
a Department, our vision for the future embraces the President's
vision of an African Renaissance and in the vision of a South
Africa and an African Continent working together through the New
Partnership for Africa's Development to build democracy and to
bring about economic growth and prosperity for all of our
peoples.
One of our big challenges remains 'the gap of incongruence' between
the sector and business. I therefore urge the business sector to
open up for the formation of partnerships with the Department and
with the colleges themselves so as to inform the processes of
developing responsive programmes and make it feasible to implement
learnerships and skills programs. As I have indicated earlier, I
have set the challenge to both colleges and business through the
Ministerial College Award programme.
Unlike the old Cinderella, for the FET colleges there will be no
magical change in preparation for dancing the night away with a
prince. The onus to change the colleges, for the better, is on us.
We are the agents of change. Let us also ensure that the change we
bring to the colleges is not a temporary Cinderellian change
brought about by the clock striking midnight. It must be
sustainable change, change that will last long for the benefit of
generations to come.
I have the pleasure to announce that the Right Rev. Archbishop
Emeritus Desmond Tutu has agreed to be the Patron-in-Chief of the
FET colleges. On your behalf I would like to extend a warm word of
welcome to a man who has distinguished himself through tirelessly
working towards establishing democracy, freedom and equity for our
people. Unfortunately he is out of the country today, but he has
extended his warm wishes and support to you in a message written in
your brochure.
In conclusion, it is with pleasure that I now officially launch the
50 new Public Further Education and Training Colleges.
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