Department of Labour on the Seta System: briefing
NCOP Public Enterprises and Communication
22 August 2006
Meeting Summary
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Meeting report
SELECT COMMITTEE ON LABOUR AND PUBLIC
ENTERPRISE
22 August 2006
DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR ON THE SETA SYSTEM: BRIEFING
Chairperson: Ms M P Themba (ANC, Mpumalanga)
Documents handed out:
Presentation on
the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) System by Dr Prinsloo
SUMMARY
The Department of Labour briefed the Committee on the progress and
challenges facing the SETA system. The
Committee raised questions around the specific programs targeted at providing
skills especially around Adult Basic Education and Training, suggesting that it
was possible that the Department needed to review its strategy on those
programmes. Members requested the Department to provide a provincial breakdown
of how province-based SETAs were performing. This would assist the Committee to
monitor whether or not provinces are adhering to the national system. The
Department agreed with the Committee that it was impossible to use a universal
approach to monitor and evaluate performance of SETAs in provinces as
challenges varied according to province and population thereof.
MINUTES
Dr Prinsloo, Executive Manager: SETA performance management, briefed the
Committee on the progress and challenges facing SETAs, highlighting the success
factors as well as major hiccups in the SETA system. One of the hiccups
according to the Department of Labour was the inconsistency within the quality
controlling boards such as UMALUSI and Higher Education and Quality Committee,
which then delayed SETAs’ progress in monitoring and the evaluation of the
quality of skills provided. On a broader scale, SETAs had performed very well
especially with the establishment of a Provincial Skills Forum encompassing
members of the public, the business sector as well as departmental
representatives. The forum allowed provinces to speak about challenges
experienced at grassroots level. South Africa experienced a backlog as a result
of the mismatch of the skills provided and those that were in demand in the
country. To remedy the situation, professionals who had retired in the field of
engineering would assist in sharing their scarce skills in communities. The
Department of Labour hoped to target skill-hungry sectors such as agriculture
to ensure that SETAs sustained their work. Dr Prinsloo acknowledged that SETAs
found themselves with a lot of work, as had been expected by the Department of
Labour. With that taken in to consideration, the system proved to be working
well.
Discussion
Mr J Sibiya (ANC, Limpopo) asked if the National Skills Fund took into
consideration the different statistics of unemployed people in various
provinces.
Dr Prinsloo concurred that he appreciated the questions, as they would help him
in determining which SETAs still required improvement. He answered that the
National Skills Fund set itself targets, but worked closely under the auspices
of the National Skills Development Fund which advised the Minister, while it
also relied on the information gathered by communities as well as other
stakeholders. He added that provincial representatives guided disbursement of
funds, as they possessed the relevant information about provinces and
challenges thereof.
Ms N Ntwanambi (ANC, Western Cape) commended the Department for an informative
presentation. She was happy that they had also outlined weaknesses. She
proposed to the chairperson that the Committee visit one of the Further
Education and Training (FET) centres in George. This would help the Committee
to understand the position of SETAs in general. She was concerned that it was
possible that the Department needed to review its strategy in administering the
ABET. Was language not a barrier towards training and education thereof? Did
the Department look into that possibility?
Dr Prinsloo agreed with the notion that language was often a barrier towards
learning specifically with Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). He added
that there were however pockets of excellence with ABET. He welcomed the
proposition to visit an FET in George. There were means to review the current
SETA system. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) was contracted by the
Department to assist in monitoring the money invested in learnerships and the
entire SETA system.
Ms Ntwanambi asked what action had been taken against educators who did not add
much value and quality to their work, but still expected money at the end of
the day. She questioned the involvement of municipalities and local authorities
in implementing principles of the Joint Initiative
for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa).
Dr Prinsloo said that the involvement of HSRC would also assist in monitoring
the level of quality invested by educators. There were improvements with
municipalities even though shortages of technical skills such as engineers and
technicians continued to be a challenge. He hoped that both ASGISA and JIPSA
would assist in infiltrating the skills within municipalities. Another
mechanism would be to utilise the skills of retired professionals with scarce
skills to contribute in communities. The Department made some linkages to the
programs of JIPSA.
Ms J Terblanche (DA, North West) asked the Department to provide a provincial
breakdown of SETAs. She asked if it was proper to suggest that SETAs were
moving too fast. Was that not the pace expected from them?
Dr Prinsloo replied that in the next meeting, SETAs would be able to provide a
statistical breakdown of the progress made by Provincial SETAs. The intention
of the Department was not to encourage a standard model for provinces as they
varied in their operation and differed in their challenges. In suggesting that
SETAs were moving too fast, he was aware that once that pace accelerated, a lot
of SETAs would run out of funds available. The Department would not be in a
position to bail out SETAs, as it lacked the funds for such an activity.
Ms Chen (ANC, Gauteng) commented that there was progress in the manner in which
SETAs were performing. She asked what kind of training was put up for
businesses. She added that the Department had to work on changing a lot of
mindsets around SETAS. She was concerned that a lot of white South African
students did not feel that SETAs were applicable to them. Was nationality an
issue when people were placed on learnership programs?
Dr Prinsloo responded that the quality of training remained a major setback and
one of reasons was inconsistencies within the sectors with quality training. He
referred to institutions such as UMALUSI, Higher Education and Quality
Committee (HEQC) and other quality institutions. He was not aware of any
reports of institutions specifying on certain race and nationality
specifications. There was a necessity to measure and monitor provisions of the
employment equity act as well as the skills development equity requisitions.
Ms Motloayela (ANC) asked if it was not possible to incorporate driving skills
into the curriculum in schools. She was convinced that that would be a useful
way to equip learners with driving skills, which had become a demand when
looking for jobs.
Dr Prinsloo echoed that the proposal was very interesting, but would not
respond directly. SETAs would be given an opportunity to respond at the next
meeting. There had been ongoing engagements with the Department of Education to
incorporate driving skills into the curriculum.
Mr D Gamede (ANC, KZN) commented that the economy of the country was growing,
approaching the targeted six percent, while levels of unemployment also escalated.
How would the SETA system remedy the situation? He questioned if SETAs refined
their strategy to focus on 2010. He concurred that the required skills needed
to be nurtured earlier before the World Cup. Mr Gamede wanted clarity on how
the Department monitored the use of money by SETAs.
Dr Prinsloo concurred that not even the National Treasury could figure out the
unemployment trend as opposed to the economic growth. He was however convinced
that one of the attributes to the problem were the skills mismatch, whereby the
skills possessed by people did not match the required needs. The Department
hoped to focus more on the “skill hungry” sectors such as the Agricultural
sector. Responding to the 2010 preparations, he echoed that ASGISA was targeted
at meeting that challenge. The Department of Labour was negotiating targets to
see if they were in line with the 2010 world cup preparations.
Mr Hendricks asked why the Country’s army resources were not used to provide
some of the skills and apprentice required in South Africa. He proposed a
buy-in from business where an arranged contract would be secured with the
Department of Labour to place learners for better training. He felt that would
break the cycle of crime in communities. Mr Hendricks did not agree that there
were untrainable people, but food was often a barrier towards training and
learning. If you intended on training people, incorporating food in the program
would produce better results.
Dr Prinsloo said that the Department of Labour had developed a sophisticated
mechanism that looked at occupation and specification of skills. He agreed that
there was a need to utilise the resources that were currently not being
utilised to provide skills and training. He could not agree more on the
question of crime, concurring that he would speak with the Chief Executive
Officer of the Safety and Security SETA to respond further on the question of
crime and what could be done about it.
The Chairperson asked whether or not all provinces had the Provincial Skills
Forum.
Dr Prinsloo promised to furnish the Committee with the relevant information on
Provincial Forums at a later stage. He confirmed that there was involvement
across provinces.
Mr Hendricks posed a follow up resting the advertisement of SETAs at high school
level.
Dr Prinsloo responded that initially, SETAs were designed for the business
sector. Information however could be channelled via the schooling system
through career counselling services. Learners would be better informed on the
career choices they made.
The chairperson thanked the Department of Labour, and specifically Dr Prinsloo,
for appearing before the Committee. She confirmed that the next meeting
involving SETAs would be held on the 5th of September 2006.
The meeting was adjourned.
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