Government proposals for the revamping of further education and training (FET) colleges have run into a barrage of criticism that they “abdicate responsibility” and are out of kilter with broad state policy on skills acquisition.
The FET Colleges Bill, ostensibly aims to streamline the colleges to meet South Africa’s chronic skills shortfalls more effectively than former technical colleges.
Reacting to the proposals, National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) president Dave Balt said the Department of Education had signalled its intention not to fund FET college programmes and quali-fications “that enable learners to develop entry-level and intermediate-level skills that are aligned to nationally identified skills needs”, including artisan skills.
This represented an abdication of responsibility. Entry-level and intermediate skills, such as welding and hairdressing, had the potential to boost income generation in small businesses, said Balt.
“Haircare offered at an FET college costs about R6 000 per learner, which is partly subsidised by the state. The same qualification offered by a private provider costs about R23 000. [So] these qualifications will be out of reach of the poor.”
Balt pointed to the government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (Asgisa) and its Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), which “focus on the need for more skills across all skills levels. Strangely, the commitment of the Department of Education is apparently not as strong as the commitment of government on skills development.”
Sue Muller, Naptosa’s director of curriculum matters, said the department’s proposals on new college curricula and policy, including the phasing out of lower-level courses, heavily promote the colleges as alternative routes to higher education, especially universities of technology.
After 12 years, a learner pursuing the new FET vocational curriculum would have the skills to enter higher education, but not to find employment, she said. “We support the new, high-level college programmes such as engineering,” said Muller, “but this still leaves a gap at the bottom. If you phase out the lower-level short courses, what replaces them? Where, for example, is a plan to train artisans to build stadiums for the 2010 Soccer World Cup?”
South African Democratic Teachers Union official Mafika Cele expressed similar reservations. If the new FET colleges curriculum, to be phased in between next year and 2009, intended “to address the skills shortage and be part of the National Skills Develop-ment Strategy, [the department] cannot stipulate a minimum of three years to get a qualification.” There are, he said, vocational quali-fications — for example, through learnerships — that require only two years.
The Suid-Afrikaanse Onder-wysersunie stressed that the Bill should provide for liaison between the education department and the Department of Labour, and for Setas to become involved in college education. Legislation “should determine that FET colleges focus on education and training in terms of the needs of industry”, it said.
All three unions also expressed concerns about labour-related proposals in the Bill, in particular the plan to transfer the contracts of employees from the state to college councils. This would have to be negotiated in the Education Labour Relations Council, they said, as it was likely to involve changes to employment tenure, medical aid contributions, pension benefits and housing allowances.
The education department has invited comment on the Bill until June 26.