Almost 80% of learners who registered for sector education and training authority (Seta) learnerships did not finish their training courses, according to the department of labour’s latest implementation report on skills development.
The report, released for the first time during last week’s national skills development conference, shows that only 16 507 out of 87 687 of the registered learners, mostly unemployed youth, completed their training from April 2005 to March 2007. This figure represents a completion rate of 19%.
The report also shows a low level of placements among learners who completed their learnerships. It shows that Setas are struggling still to meet equity targets set by the department, even though a high number of people have been put through skills development programmes.
The new disclosures are a major blow for government, which has invested billions of rands to tackle the shortage of skills in the country.
The government believes that by tackling the skills shortage it will reduce the level of unemployment and poverty in the country.
Poor employment growth in South Africa primarily appears to be the result of a shift in the kind of labour required by the economy, which is becoming increasingly dependent on skilled or semi-skilled workers.
The Setas receive an annual budget of R5-billion from a tax levy imposed on all companies to address the skills shortage that hamstrings the economy.
But the training agencies have been plagued by numerous allegations of corruption and fraud since they were established in 2000.
The problem of students dropping out of the training is common too.
In 2004, data from the National Skills Authority showed that only 14% of the 70 000 registered learners had completed their courses since the system was implemented in 2001. The National Skills Development Strategy Implementation Report for April 2002 to March 2003 showed that only 15% of the 25 341 learners completed their courses.
The 2007 report does not provide details on the completion rate. However, an independent report on Setas by Singizi Consulting indicates that most learners entered learnerships merely because they wanted to access the stipends provided through the programme.
Once these learners found alter-native employment they left before they could complete their learnerships.
Paul Lundall, an independent researcher on skills development, provided two reasons for learners not completing their learnerships.
The first was poor selection procedures of learners and the second the poor support mechanisms in the learnership programmes.
“Learnerships are so tightly budgeted that the facilitators cannot deviate from the programme or spend time with remediation because it will put them behind schedule. So instead of dealing with these problems, everyone adheres to the time schedule and after a two-week block, paid for by the National Skills Fund, learners are assessed and they perform badly.
“Many unfortunately do not reach this point and drop out of the programme. Those who complete the programme are subjected to the same process in the next learnership and often the results are more catastrophic,” said Lundall.
“Unintentionally, therefore, the system is working inefficiently and the notion of excellence and learning progression that we all aspire to is merely rhetoric.”
Sam Morotoba, the department’s deputy director general responsible for skills development, said the low completion rate in learnerships did not mean there was a high rate of drop-out.
“This could be because at the time the report was completed some learnership programmes were still under way.”
The department acknowledged that it was experiencing difficulties regarding the placement of learners.
It pointed out that progress on placements was hampered mainly by the lack of commitment from employers to provide learners with work experience.
“Some employers are reluctant to sign agreements with institutions of learning to offer work experience to learners who have completed learning programmes,” the report said.
The report showed that none of the equity targets set by the department were met in the period between 2005 and 2007.
“It is imperative that more blacks, women and people with disabilities take up learning programmes to ensure that the strategy contributes towards addressing inequalities in the workplace and economic activities,” said the report.