Vocational education, skills excellence important says Nzimande

Global studies and research show that education and training systems are biased towards technical, vocational and occupational training have a better chance of surviving the worst economic recessions and display lower levels of youth unemployment says the Department of Higher Education and Training minister Blade Nzimande.

He was talking at the send-off ceremony of the more 100 competitors who will participate in the 44th WorldSkills competition which will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 15 to 17 October.

Occurring every two years, the WorldSkills competition is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world. The competitors represent the best of their peers and are selected from skills competitions in WorldSkills member countries and regions.

Nzimande explains that systems which have a strong tendency towards technical, vocational and occupational component in their curricula also tend to recover more quickly from negative impact arising from unpredictable global economic downturns.

“Studies and national socio-economic dynamics have convinced the department that the expansion and resourcing of the TVET colleges sector is a critical priority for midlevel skills massification.”

Blade emphasises that the creation of more workplaces is extremely critical.

“As a united people and a developing country, in our various communities across all provinces, we need therefore to jointly inculcate a new culture of “artisan skills recognition, respect and active participation”.