South African businesses had little good to say about the country’s schooling system, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
Private-sector employers had ”grave reservations” about its overall quality, indicated the research by the Centre for Development and Enterprise survey. It was entitled The South African skills crisis: A report from the corporate coalface.
Of 40 companies surveyed, 28 commented on schooling. Of these, 12 remarked that there was a decline in school-leavers’ abilities in mathematics, science and language skills. They had ”no work ethic” and lacked the ability to be trained.
Eight said schools were not performing well, standards — especially language skills — were slipping, there was a lack of discipline and [lack of] culture of learning.
Of the 40 companies questioned, 19 were ”roundly negative” about the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas).
They found dealing with Setas too cumbersome and assessors to be poorly trained. The training was also found to be too theoretical and did not meet their needs.
Some comments included: ”The benefits [to us] are virtually nil. It’s a government attempt to create employment … they produce nothing.
”The Seta provides no value. There is no improvement in the skills pool or in the quality of workmanship.”
Eighteen respondents commented on higher education. Of these, six said there were uneven standards between universities. Five said tertiary graduates were ”adequate/quite good”.
The companies spontaneously identified ”skills issues” as their greatest single source of frustration — well ahead of input costs, competition from imports, compliance with government regulations and problems meeting black economic empowerment requirements.
”The breadth and depth of the skills problem is illustrated by the fact that for two thirds of the firms surveyed, the skills they define as scarce comprise well over 50% of their current staff.”
This level was gradually increasing because of the need to compete globally.
According to the findings, the skills shortage was getting worse due to the emigration of skilled people, the ageing of skilled staff, their movement to more senior positions and government interventions.
”The government’s growing emphasis on employment equity is making the skills market far tighter because the most skilled people — white people — are no longer freely employable.”
The report’s three recommendations were reinstating an improved apprenticeship system, opening up immigration as a short-term solution and having the government modulate its pressure for employment equity.
Only chief executive officers or senior company officials of businesses in Gauteng were questioned for the survey. Nineteen of the businesses surveyed were in manufacturing with the remainder spread across mining, retail and services. Ten had fewer than 100 employees, three had over 10 000. The rest were spread fairly between these extremes. — Sapa