Colleges must bolster ‘missing middle’ of SA’s technical and vocational skills
China provides a successful model for the drastic opening to the wasted potential of private sector provision, write Ann Bernstein and Sandy Johnston
Rapid growth, an effective state, increased employment and widespread inclusion all depend on our getting better at how we produce skills for more and more South Africans at all levels of education and training. The prospects of transformation and achieving justice in our society also depend on broad access to quality education and training. Skills are vital at every point on the growth agenda. The most important way to build skills is to provide quality education and training combined with on-the-job learning. The second is to make up for any shortfalls in domestic skills acquisition by recruiting them from elsewhere in a world, where well-managed recruitment and immigration policies can efficiently match supply of skills with demand. In an ideal world, SA would be good at both of these. In reality, we are good at neither. Much attention has been focused on the contribution of a failing basic education system to skills shortages and it is important to see how the costs of this fail...
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