Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Buti Manamela, says a structured and continuous capacity building programme for Student Representative Councils (SRC) will go a long way to defusing potential conflicts and threats to teaching and learning.
“There is always scepticism and cynicism whenever student leaders debate issues impacting their lives across our college campuses and their future. However, my view has always been that properly trained and workshopped student leaders are unlikely to cause disruptions to teaching and learning,” Manamela said.
Manamela was speaking at the Annual National Student Leadership Induction Programme for the Student Representative Council and the South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training Students Association (SATVETSA), which is underway in Boksburg, Gauteng.
The induction programme is the brainchild of the 2018 Student Support Services Conference, which mandated the department and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to develop a standardised, continuous capacity building programme for student leaders.
The convention is that the programme must ideally start with induction for newly elected student leaders.
Delivering the keynote address at Thursday’s gathering, Manamela said the training of student leaders impacts on the prospects of their success, even after leaving college for other destinations, including the world of work, further learning or even self-employment.
“The hosting of this induction programme is very critical as it provides student leaders - the intended beneficiaries of this initiative - with a platform to share their final input on the development of a standardised capacity building programme of our future leaders, that is, the SRCs in the TVET college sector.
“One of our critical tasks is to ensure that we consolidate all the inputs in developing a standardised, continuous capacity building programme for student leaders during the course of this year,” Manamela said.
The development of the programme for student leaders demonstrates the department’s commitment to introduce responsive programmes and capacity development training, with a specific focus on leadership skills such as negotiation, communication, conflict resolution and diversity management – all intended to capacitate student leaders to execute their mandate.
“This induction programme provides TVET stakeholders with a platform to debate a shared vision of what we want current and future student representatives to be trained on, and develop an induction manual that will be used by all the TVET colleges after electing new student leaders,” Manamela said.
The Deputy Minister commended the former leaders of SATVETSA, who participated in a panel discussion on Thursday.
“I trust that the current leadership has learned a lot from their experiences. I am confident that the inputs of former SATVETSA leaders had enriched your deliberations at this induction programme,” he said.
Colleges called to join CoSACSA structure
Meanwhile, Manamela emphasised that all colleges are expected to affiliate with the national structure of College Sports, Arts and Culture South Africa (CoSACSA) to ensure that no student is left behind and denied an opportunity to compete on a national stage with the very best of the TVET college sector.
“Let me unequivocally restate the position of all of us when we resuscitated this structure. We had all agreed that the national structure of CoSACSA is entrusted with the responsibility of facilitating sports, arts, and culture in the TVET college sector for the benefit of all TVET college students.
“Therefore, as officials, we have a responsibility to avail resources at our disposal to set the stage for the benefit of all our students to shine,” the Deputy Minister said.
Although students enrol with TVET colleges to become artisans, Manamela argued that their participation in sports, arts and culture has the potential to change “not only the course of their lives but also to impact the lives of other people in ways they could have never imagined”. - SAnews.gov.za
