The Department of Higher Education is pumping R2-billion into Further Education and Training Colleges (FETs) in order to increase the number of artisans trained and delivered to the market – but the underlying problem is not with the quantity of artisans, but with the quality.
This is according to Sean Jones, a director of black-owned private artisan training academy, Artisan Training Institute (ATI).
“There are claims being bandied about that there is a shortfall of as many as 50 000 artisans in South Africa. But, besides questioning this number – which I believe is very much on the high side – the question we are faced with is not quantity, but quality.
“The quality of artisan training in this country is just not up to scratch – and for the Department of Higher Education just to pump money into the FETs and think this sausage-machined mentality is going to make any difference to the market – is, frankly, fanciful thinking.
“There are thousands of artisans who have been churned out of FETs, or sub-standard artisan training providers, who cannot actually properly perform their basic duties in their chosen profession.
“Compounding this has been the historic abuse of section 28 of the old Manpower Training Act where people with many years of practical exposure could be fast-tracked through recognition of prior learning (RPL) to qualify as an artisan. The result is hundreds of people with artisan qualifications that are unemployable,” Jones adds.
“Additionally, the figure of an estimated backlog of 50 000 artisans has been doing the rounds for years – and I really question its accuracy. The initial market research – to glean the statistics – was also originally gleaned from the artisan shortfall at one mine. This cannot give an accurate reflection.”
Jones says that if there was a higher quality of artisans being trained in South Africa, this “so-called backlog would not be as acutely felt”. He is hopeful that the introduction of the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO) will address the problem going forward.
“There are claims being bandied about that there is a shortfall of as many as 50 000 artisans in South Africa. But, besides questioning this number – which I believe is very much on the high side – the question we are faced with is not quantity, but quality.
“The quality of artisan training in this country is just not up to scratch – and for the Department of Higher Education just to pump money into the FETs and think this sausage-machined mentality is going to make any difference to the market – is, frankly, fanciful thinking.
“There are thousands of artisans who have been churned out of FETs, or sub-standard artisan training providers, who cannot actually properly perform their basic duties in their chosen profession.
“Compounding this has been the historic abuse of section 28 of the old Manpower Training Act where people with many years of practical exposure could be fast-tracked through recognition of prior learning (RPL) to qualify as an artisan. The result is hundreds of people with artisan qualifications that are unemployable,” Jones adds.
“Additionally, the figure of an estimated backlog of 50 000 artisans has been doing the rounds for years – and I really question its accuracy. The initial market research – to glean the statistics – was also originally gleaned from the artisan shortfall at one mine. This cannot give an accurate reflection.”
Jones says that if there was a higher quality of artisans being trained in South Africa, this “so-called backlog would not be as acutely felt”. He is hopeful that the introduction of the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO) will address the problem going forward.