Pretoria - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize has called on Further Education and Training (FET) colleges to increase their intake to cater for learners who will not be registering at universities.
"Training and skills acquisition is the real purpose of education, making the individual capable of sustaining themselves independently using their skill to survive and the technical skills that will grow the economy of our country and enable us to compete with best in the world," Dr Mkhize said during his State of the Province Address on Tuesday.
He noted that it was discouraging for young people to exert themselves for 12 years of their lives at school, only to end up frustrated without any purpose in life due to inability to get meaningful skills to earn a living.
He said the provincial government will approach the Department of Higher Education and Training to increase the capacity of the FET colleges and local centres for the youth to access skills training in the small towns nearest to them. The provincial government will do its best to integrate them into the economy through learnerships.
Mkhize also encouraged communities and private business to make a contribution to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds who need funds to register at tertiary institutions, including FET colleges.
"The government has budgeted over R67 million in bursaries that have been disbursed this year. The total number of recipients currently in tertiary institutions is just below 5 000, costing the province about R193 million. It is the condition of the bursary that on completion, learners will be available to serve their community in the relevant field," he said.
Meanwhile, the provincial Department of Education has been directed to prioritise schools without ablution facilities and initiate a programme to provide solar electricity for those schools battling with electricity.
Mkhize noted that there were still huge backlogs affecting the education system, with 350 schools having no access to water and 1 350 with no access to electricity.
"There is a backlog of 8 935 class rooms, 3 339 libraries, 10 531 science laboratories, 43 929 toilets and there are backlogs in fencing and telecommunications. The infrastructure budget aims at responding to this reality.
"A similar programme of building new schools, libraries, new classes, [fencing], sanitation and water provision is being undertaken by the Department of Education in their capital works projects," said the premier.
Meanwhile, the number of provincial public school learners benefiting from the National School Nutrition Programme has increased to 1 837 492. Efforts to make education free and accessible for the poor are progressing well, with 57 percent schools being designated No Fee Schools, benefiting 1 750 006 children (45 percent of learner population).
"The children registering for Grade R exceeded the targets, thus making our province the best performer in the country. We trust that the enthusiasm, hard work and dedication of the educators will show results as the Grades 3, 6 and 9 go through the Annual National Assessment to test for their level of numeracy and literacy," Mkhize said.
