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Symbiotic education Blade Nzimande, The New Age, Johannesburg, 6 November 2014 Our new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges will replace the Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, which have served us for the past 20 years. The buildings will be the same and most of the staff will be the same but, as the name implies, we have started a new era of vocational training one where employers and government must come together and play their respective parts in the development of a skilled and capable work force. In the developed world, countries such as Germany and Switzerland have, for centuries, been able to develop the world's best artisans and craftsmen. Their success has been based on a sound partnership between government and industry where employers lead in the development of artisans. This is the model that we are building today in South Africa and which will, over time, increase the number of artisans trained each year to over 30000. As the Department of Higher Education and Training we want to enter a new era, one where government will do its part to deliver fit-for-purpose educational solutions, a curriculum that is up to date, workshops that are well equipped and lecturers who are well trained. However, it will be the employers who will provide workplaces and students with work place experience, where the formal learning can be applied and real skills built. It is the integration of theoretical, practical and workplace training that is the key to developing quality artisans. Recent studies show that students are 80% more likely to find employment if they have work experience. The challenge is to enable young people to obtain that experience. Only by opening up thousands of new workplaces as training spaces can we give young people the experience they need. There are many in industry today who remember their humble beginnings in the college sector. This is where our state-owned enterprises such as Eskom, Iscor and South African Airways typically trained their artisans. Many of those artisans developed to be technicians and engineers and many developed into the business leaders we have today. It is a sad reality that those who remember this time are generally white and by now approaching the age of 60. It is a well-known fact that apprentice training during the 1970s and '80s was reserved for mostly white South Africans and mainly driven by state -owned enterprises (SOEs). Over many years, and for many reasons, which I will not delve into now, this type of artisan development has disappeared and the average age of artisans in the country today is around 60 years. We are producing only around 13000 artisans annually, very far from what a vibrant economy may need. What we must all realise though is that artisans are not developed in colleges. They may learn some valuable theory there but real artisans are developed in workplaces. As a department, we are engaging with the state enterprises and we are working at increasing their intake of apprentices. It is however clear that given the post-apartheid population of learners requiring placement SOE's alone will not be able to manage to develop the skills we need. Unlike Germany and Switzerland where all companies, large, medium and small, take on students, this culture does not exist in South Africa and never has. The number of private businesses who actively developed artisans even prior to 1994 was very small. We are therefore now at a point in history, where we have to change the way in which we do things. The department has started the change and is leading the way and hopefully opening opportunities for employers to participate actively in the development of skills for our country. The "T" in TVET requires that all companies must get involved in training of our youth. We are not abdicating responsibility nor are we disowning the problem, quite to the contrary, we are owning it but believe the only enduring solution for the new era in TVET Colleges will come when employers take our hands. Let's walk together. . Dr Blade Nzimande is the Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/ For your free subscription to the on-line edition of The New Age, CLICK HERE <http://www.thenewage.co.za/tnasubscription/productcart_digital.aspx?2produc t8=8-1> -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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