Minister Nzimande concerned about the number of artisans produced yearly in South Africa
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Higher Education and Minister Dr Blade Nzimande says he is not happy with the number of artisans produced yearly and has urged school leavers to pursue careers in the field to reach the country’s National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 target.
He made this call at the artisan graduation ceremony of over 350 artisans of the Centres of Specialisation (CoS) held at Emperors Palace Hotel, Ekurhuleni, on Tuesday.
“Our country needs at least 60% of school leavers to pursue artisanal type training to meet the country’s demand for scarce skills. I therefore encourage school leavers to pursue technical trades, as government continues to invest in technical and vocational education.”
“We honestly need to do more to encourage school leavers to pursue technical trades, as government expands technical and vocational education. This is amongst the reasons why there is a continuous need for suitably qualified artisans to sustain industries and support economic growth in South Africa.”
Nzimande also highlighted that government’s NDP and White Paper for Post-School Education and Training indicates that by 2030 the country should be producing 30 000 qualified artisans per year.
It is said that at the moment the country is currently producing about 20 000 artisans per annum, on average.
Having said that, the department says they have noticed a decline in the total number of learners who entered artisanal learning programme with 10 302 learners having entered the programme during 2020/21 financial year, reflecting a 36.5% (5 916) decline compared with the 2019/20 financial year.
Minister Nzimande said they are targeting 20 500 opportunities for apprentices, [including] 22 500 for artisanal trades; 31 300 for those completing learnerships and 148 000 for learners entering into various other skills development programmes, such as digital skills, crop production and plant production.
