NDP
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE NSDP BALL How do we meet the NDP’s 2030 skills goals? JAMES FRANCIS reports
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THE NDP’s 2030 SKILLS GOALS • Expand the college system • One million learning opportunities through community education and training centres • 80 per cent throughput rate • 70 per cent university enrolment rate • 450 000 students eligible to study science and maths degrees • 75 per cent of higher education staff have PhDs • 100 doctoral graduates per million • Increase government’s R&D spending
jobs and embedding skills planning into he National Skills Development Plan sectoral processes. (NSDP) was gazetted in 2019 to meet The state of primary education is another the National Development Plan’s barrier, says Dr Lydia Cillie-Schmidt, director (NDP) skills requirements. It articulates of The Talent Hub International. “The NSDP several performance indicators and acknowledges the challenges in basic needs such as the roles of different training education, but if issues earlier in the education establishments, identifying the most crucially teachers, and careful evaluations to reduce system are not addressed, the NSDP would needed skills, and highlighting the need for dropout rates and supply in-demand skills. probably not achieve its outcomes. Achieving public-private collaboration. When industries and their big players take the some of these by 2030 seems “Exciting progress initiative, many of the NDP and NSDP’s goals too ambitious, given South is being made in some are achievable. Africa’s reality in terms of areas, while in others But there are two caveats. The first, said basic education.” there is almost none at several interviewees, is that government A draft report from the all,” says Prof Stephanie needs to be more proactive, aggressive Department of Planning, Allais, research chair of and co-ordinated with nuanced plans that Monitoring and Evaluation on skills development and complement the NSDP’s broad strokes. And, NSDP progress reveals several professor of education at adds Siyabonga Madyibi, executive director: hits and misses. For example, Wits University’s Centre for Corporate, External university enrolments are up, Researching Education and and Legal Affairs crossing the million mark in Labour (REAL). at Microsoft South 2020 from 975 837 in 2016. But, “The NSDP is not Africa, we need to technical vocational education a failure, but it needs move beyond pockets and training enrolments are realignment. The pandemic of excellence. “Many Dr Lydia down from 705 397 (2016) to has made clear the extent PPPs work in pockets Cillie-Schmidt 500 000 today. to which we have to build and depend on which There are some examples ‘surge capacity’ so that departments are of skills training success, especially among institutions have additional capacity to draw on proactive as part of public-private partnerships (PPPs). Microsoft to shift direction in moments of difficulty. Our the broader national runs the country’s largest internship current funding models, based rather tightly skills development programme, having trained over 10 000 on learner enrolments, do not make it easy plan. There has to be school-leavers over the past eight years. It for institutions to develop such capacity. The a single point of entry provides digital literacy, digital training for result is that providers can’t respond when from a government there are short-term urgent requirements – perspective to co-ordinate how such as reskilling workers who have lost their Siyabonga Madyibi jobs because of COVID-19.” these public-private Other shortcomings include insufficient partnerships work.” means to support remote/online learning Complacency carries some responsibility and limited access to workplace exposure. for the lag. But there is also action – in April, Allais also argues that there is a need to the artisan grant was raised substantially. Yet adjust quality assurance requirements for the effects of the NSDP aren’t quite reaching qualifications and programmes in targeted where it’s needed most. For that to happen, realignment of focus, collaboration, and sectors and to make short-term adjustments integration of effort needs to take place. to funding mechanisms for immediate training needs. Furthermore, existing technical and vocational education programmes need updating to meet demand in key sectors within the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. Additional interventions proposed by REAL are retraining to preserve existing Professor Stephanie Allais
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