With South Africa’s Human Resources Development Strategy (HRD 2010-2030) now in place, the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDCSA) will focus on ensuring that all social partners play their part in the implementation of the strategy, Deputy President and HRDCSA chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe said Friday.

“The commitment shown by all social partners gives us hope that over the next 20 years South Africa will see a radical improvement in skills development,” he said at the launch of the HRDCSA’s mid-term report, in Pretoria.

The report tracked progress made by the HRDCSA in implementing the HRD 2010-2030 from the council’s inception in March 2010 to March 2012. The HRD 2010-2030 consists of a five-point plan that is aimed at the strengthening of further education and training (FET) colleges, production of intermediate skills, production of academics and stronger partnerships between industry and higher education and training institutions in research and development, as well as worker education and foundational training.

Nine technical task teams were established to implement the plan.

The report revealed that a total of 24 378 new artisan learner workplaces have been secured, while 13 168 new artisans qualified during the 2011/12 financial year.

To improve target setting, monitoring and reporting of future, new and qualifying artisan learners, the Artisan and Technician Development Technical Task Team would establish a single national database and management information system at Ekurhuleni East FET college, Kwa Tema, for all artisan and learner data, including a process to review and verify the accuracy of artisan learner data and to capture and report on artisan learners.

The FET Technical Task Team identified short-, medium- and long-term priorities.

Short-term priorities included the professional development of lecturers and curriculum managers, as well as improving the throughput rate of FET colleges. Medium-term priorities were, among others, to strengthen partnerships with industry and the FET colleges and the design and implementation of a Programmes Qualifications Mix (PQM), while the long-term goal would be to monitor the impact of the PQM.

The task team responsible for the delivery of professionals identified the engineering and built, health, education, finance, agriculture and social sectors as areas of priority.

This task team would investigate bursary spending in the country with a view to ensuring that government donor agencies and business channelled their bursary spend towards priority skills required by the economy.

The report stated that key consideration must be given to the Department of Science and Technology’s draft policy guidelines for scholarships, fellowships and bursaries.

Motlanthe said the HRD 2010-2030 was currently being aligned with the New Growth Path, as well as to ensuring that issues relating to innovation, knowledge management and the green economy were adequately addressed.

A mid-term strategic review of the HRD 2010-2030 by the HRDCSA, in November 2011, outlined persisting challenges, such as clarifying the role and mandate of the HRD 2010-2030, ensuring that social partners played their designated roles and made a significant contribution towards the future human resource development of the country, while also ensuring that the task teams and secretariat were appropriately resourced and structured.

The HRDCSA was currently facilitating a process that would result in the development of a succinct and integrated National Human Resource Development Plan for South Africa.

The plan would outline the resources required to deliver on the agreed priorities and include recommendations regarding the appropriate tools needed by the HRDCSA to deliver on its mandate.