PA R T NERSHIP S
A SMALL DIFFERENCE IS STILL A DIFFERENCE When looking at the current youth unemployment rate, there is a clear urgent need for a silver lining for today’s youth, says the Skills Development Corporation
The Tjeka Training Matters facility in Fisantekraal.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION SKILLS A purpose-built training facility in the Western Cape aims to bolster skills development and produce a new generation of construction workers 28
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he global construction industry is expected to grow by 5.2 per cent this year, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. If this is the case, then the industry will require expertise and skills to carry the workload and to keep the sector at its peak. Gawie Burger, Southern Region manager at Tjeka Training Matters, believes that training the youth is crucial for creating a new wave of skilled individuals and subsequently alleviating the skills shortage in the industry. “This can be achieved by providing quality training and development through leadership, skills programmes, apprenticeships and short courses.” It is for this reason that the company recently launched a new training facility in Fisantekraal. “This purpose-built training centre was constructed by Garden Cities using alternative building technologies such as the benex block, which is lightweight, thermally efficient and easy to use when building.
“We started offering some basic upskilling learnerships and qualifications, and now we’re certifying candidates at national qualifications framework (NQF) level. Above all, all our learnerships are governed by the necessary Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) – from office administration through to retail, finance and IT,” says Gibhard. “By expanding our offering across the different sectors, we’re able to connect with a variety of companies to help upskill and educate these youngsters in fields that best suit their interest.”
“The construction of the facility was successfully completed and has been occupied since February this year,” he explains. “The centre specialises in all the construction trades, namely, carpentry, plumbing, bricklaying, painting and plastering, tiling as well as civil-related trades that include roadworks, pipelaying, gabion construction and the erection of guardrail,” says Burger. Letitia van Rensburg, training officer at Master Builders’ Association for the Western Cape, adds that “the need for artisans and the improvement of the trade testing processes are one of the challenges the industry is facing in the region and the new training facility will assist in mitigating this.” The centre offers both short courses and full qualifications. “We are also busy registering at the Institute for Working at Heights as a provider for all the scaffolding erector, inspector, supervisor and fall rescue planner programmes,” says Burger.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
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he unemployment rate under the expanded definition, which includes those who have given up on the hunt for a job, is now 43.2 per cent. Youth unemployment under the expanded definition is a staggering 74.7 per cent, which means that only one in four school-leavers who are 24 or younger have a job in South Africa, reports StatSA’s latest quarterly labour survey. This, coupled with South Africa’s current education failures, especially in computer literacy, is exacerbating the problem even further. At a rate of around 2 000 learners annually, albeit small, the Skills Development Corporation (SDC) is contributing to providing education and assistance for the improvement in the youth unemployment rate by about 0.0005 per cent nationally. “In the past three years, we have upskilled over 5 000 learners through various skills development programmes,” says Daniel Gibhard, CEO of SDC. “Of these learners, we have managed to place 12 per cent in employment or into other tertiary education opportunities, which, considering the marketplace and socioeconomic environment, is a significant achievement.
