JOHANNESBURG 18 FEBRUARY 2000 A
The President of the British Chamber of Business in Southern Africa, Members of the Chamber, Ladies and Gentleman
I feel honoured today to address you today, so soon after President Thabo Mbekis’ State of the Nation Address in which he provided added texture on the direction of South Africa’s socio-economic reconstruction and development programme. The State of the Nation Address was correctly dominated by our concern for signalling our intent to compete more robustly for domestic and foreign direct investment. In particular it reflected our nation’s response to calls for a rigorous review of our labour markets, especially with respect to small and medium enterprises.
I wish to take the opportunity - provided so graciously by the Chamber today – to focus on our efforts to deal with the other matter so critical to competing effectively in the global economy- our education and training strategy that aims to build the human resources for the Knowledge Economy.
Widening participation in quality education for the Knowledge Economy
It is now widely acknowledged that a fundamental difference that must mark education and training systems in the 21st Century is the combination rather than the separation - within learning and teaching - of key skills (the "hands"), knowledge (the "head"), and values and attitudes (the "heart").
This is so because rapidly restructuring economies, industries, enterprises and hence work require workers who are more adept at changing their way of working and even of their occupations. Gone are the days of lifelong employment by a single employer – especially at this time of great turbulence!
Qualifications, curricula and assessment must therefore become flexible and diverse – focussing on the outcomes rather than the inputs and outputs of learning and teaching – so that they can respond to the needs of the labour market and society more generally, relying more on open learning and methodologies. In short, a key feature of the 21st Century must be that learning is accepted as a lifelong enterprise.
It is also widely acknowledged that while the 20th Century saw the expansion of participation of the elite in quality education and consequently their economic, political and social empowerment, the 21st Century must be marked by a widening of participation of the poor – especially the unskilled and low-skilled workers - in quality education so that the poor can expand their roles and release their energies and latent potential to the economy and society, rather than be observers to national development and recipients of the largesse of the state and of the new global economy.
The post-apartheid education and training challenge
I am certain that the members of the Chamber would be fully supportive of this framework for learning and teaching in the 21st Century. But you must be asking yourself how on earth are we as South Africans going realise this mission of turning around our apartheid legacy of dysfunctional institutions and even more dysfunctional, irrelevant, Bantu Education inspired and grammarian approaches to learning and teaching, so that our supply side institutions can produce the kinds of graduates that are entrepreneurial and lifelong learners. And, you must be asking how we are going to turn around an apparently dead loss labour market situation of mainly un-, irrelevant- and inflexibly skilled labour. Well, I’ve got news for you. Our government is determined and is working tirelessly on both supply and demand side of the labour market to prepare our country and our people for our post-apartheid socio-economic recovery.
Skills development for the employed and unemployed
In respect of the demand side of the labour market, my colleague, Mr Mdladlane, the Minister of Labour is pulling out all the stops to deal with the question of labour market flexibility – through a review of the Labour Relations Act - and to putting in place the successor bodies of the archaic industry and regional training boards. Our demand side-led national skills development strategy relies on a mix of fiscal measures (the skills levy system) and incentives (enterprise level skills plans) to create demand for enterprise-based skills development programmes. Twenty-five Sector Education and Training Authorities are charged with the critical duty of developing economic sector training strategies that combine analyses and signalling mechanisms of labour demand and supply.
These Authorities are also charged with the duty of steering the application of the new payroll skills levy close to economic sector labour demand and for ensuring that these levies are applied strategically across the full range of skills needs – intermediate, skilled and highly skilled - consistent with the requirements of learning and teaching in the 21st Century to which I have referred earlier.
While these efforts will generate considerable resources and demand for labour market related training of the employed, 20% of the skills levy together with an amount in excess of R1 billion - collected from the demutualisation of Sanlam and Old Mutual - will be targeted at literacy and skills development programmes for our unemployed adults and youth.
I am therefore convinced that not only do we have our skills development strategy for the 21st Century in place, but we are now well on course to breaking the back of illiteracy, especially among the unemployed, and turning a low-skill low-tech low-growth deficit into a high-skill high-tech high-growth path.
Building and education system for the 21st Century
Alongside our demand-side led national skills development strategy, our supply-side led national education and training strategy includes putting in place a high quality general education as the foundation for further and higher education, for access to work, for lifelong learning in the knowledge society and economy, for participation in civic life, and for national prosperity.
This strategy also includes programmes for the modernisation of further and higher education, and the closer alignment of our funding of these sub-systems to the current and emergent demands of the labour market.
In order for us to graduate from general, further and higher education lifelong, multi- functional and flexible learners with positive attitudes across the full range of skills - from intermediate to high to highly skilled - for the Knowledge Society and Knowledge Economy, our current education strategy focuses primarily on the development and introduction of a new National Qualifications Framework that links the qualifications of schools, colleges, universities and technikons with enterprise- and community-based training, allowing for learners to move flexibly between and within education and training institutions and enterprise- and community-based centres.
The building of a national framework of linked qualifications is being undertaken in a manner that will allow for our funding of further and higher education and training – that total in excess of R12 billion for our public institutions – to lever qualifications and curricula in closer alignment with the labour market and societal needs.
The success of our strategy is highly dependent upon the development and effective delivery of high quality leadership and management programmes for institutional managers and governors, and high quality professional development programmes for educators. In turn these programmes must be delivered through highly motivated and professional education support personnel, and suitably qualified non-government organisations.
I am aware that these supply side education and training initiatives have long lead times before they contribute effectively to the production of the results that corresponds with that of a modernised education and training system that drives/leads our post-apartheid socio-economic reconstruction and development. However, Tirisano, our lead programme is now focusing all of these efforts within five national programmes, and is generating new optimism, energy and expectation for a new high road of public participation in education modernisation, replacing the top down bureaucratically led modernisation programme.
Modernising and recovering education through partnerships
This newly generated optimism for the recovery and modernisation of our education institutions have also released new energies, commitment and considerable resources within our partnership with Business. For example the targeted recovering and modernising of 1000 primary schools, 500 high schools and all 152 technical colleges - that is worth more than R420 million over the next four years. Within the partnership an additional R115 million investment is now being made in 15 000 learnerships/modern apprenticeships for employed and unemployed learners that aims critically to raise significantly the skills profile of our tourism industry.
The conditional grant - of more than R280 million per year for the next three years to improve education management and quality - administered by the Department of Education will be utilised effectively to supplement these collective efforts aimed at pulling our education institutions from the brink and into the 21st Century. As will our bi- and multi-lateral development co-operation and aid agreements.
And so, in a short span of time, we driven up accountability for performance and are supporting these with sustainable educational interventions that focuses on effective support systems for managers and educators, infrastructure and materials.
Great optimism for a popular-led building of a 21st Century education and training system
And so, I am extremely optimistic that we are turning around our education and training system from the abyss of decay, inefficiency, lack of responsiveness, demotivation and lack of accountability. And that we are building an education and training system for the 21st Century.
Let me also record today the wonderful support we are enjoying from DfID and the British Council for our recovery and modernisation efforts. Specifically, within our programme to build a modern, responsive further education and training system beginning with our technical colleges, the partnership with the Business Trust (through the National Business Initiative), DiFID and the British Council provides an excellent opportunity to establish partnerships between our technical colleges and British further education and training institutions. I understand that the process of shortlisting British institutions who will partner our technical colleges as they prepare for their incorporation as further education institutions, is nearing completion and that we will be able to make an announcement of successful bidders soon.
Let me conclude by inviting all members of the Chamber present here today join in partnership this new optimism that is flooding our national consciousness. Help us rebuild the education and training system for a better life for all, and join us in partnership to develop the skills so essential for a modern economy. Let me also call on you to spread this message of optimism and the news that South Africans and their partners are indeed hard at bat, rebuilding its education and training system and its skills profile that is fitting to the requirements of a Knowledge Economy and a Knowledge Society.
I thank you.