Pretoria - The Bavarian State Government has made a pledge to assist the Gauteng Provincial Government to integrate young people without school leaving qualifications into working life.
This came out during a meeting between Education MEC Barbara Creecy, representing the Gauteng government and Bavarian State Minister for Federal and European Affairs, Emilia Muller.
The meeting was held in Germany on Thursday to strengthen cooperation between the two provinces.
During the visit, working groups were established to provide assistance on economic development, education, public safety and security, training, agriculture, and environment protection.
The two provinces also signed an action plan to intensify the cooperation agreement with the Bavarian State Government.
The "Don Bosco - Jugend Dritte Welt" project focuses on non-formal occupational training of young people in townships outside Johannesburg and will be run through its project partner, Salesians of Don Bosco in Southdale.
The Gauteng Department of Education explained that Bavaria will support the recapitalisation of provincial technical high schools with focus on establishing linkages between schools and the various economic sectors.
The Germans will also assist the province to build the capacity of departmental and school management teams to implement technical and vocational oriented curricula.
"A study tour is planned for officials from Sci-Bono Discovery Centre and Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance to study the Bavarian teacher training and up-skilling system. They will promote partnership with the Deutsches Museum to strengthen capacity in maths, science and technology education and science centre management.
"As part of the action plan, Gauteng Enterprise Propeller officials will visit Bavaria to learn about Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) support and mentoring models with various organisations and institutions. Bavaria would explore the best partner for the Innovation Hub in the field of information and communication technology development," the department said in a statement.
The two governments will exchange experience and knowledge in the field of forensics and ICT in fighting crime, with particular focus on the effective development and management of forensic laboratories and advice on crime-scene management for effective processing of samples and prosecution of suspects.
On agriculture, Bavaria will exchange knowledge on farmer training and capacity development for agriculture and food processing.
"The agreement includes identification of training needs for small farmers as well as development of training and exchange programmes. The two governments will also exchange know-how in the field of waste management, including recycling initiatives, strategies for waste minimisation support and converting waste to energy."
The two provinces have a partnership covering more than 15 years. They signed a renewed cooperation agreement in 2010.
