Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande on Friday called for some amendments and additions in the curriculum of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges to absorb the country's desolate youth into its workforce and address the high unemployment rate in South Africa.

"Government has set out a broad goal to develop the economy in a way that responds to the needs of all South Africans, especially the poor, and to achieve this there is an urgent need to contribute to a new economic growth path for our country, in which FET colleges are well positioned to contribute to the acute midlevel skills crisis that exists in South Africa."

Speaking at the FET college summit in Johannesburg, the Minister noted that it was important to consider the Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap2010), as well as the Human Resources Development Strategy for South Africa as critical guidelines for the transformation of FET colleges in the country.

He emphasised that a key component of the Ipap2010 was that of developing a green economy. "The colleges must consider building skills for a green economy. South Africa will be looking to use solar energy going into the future, and for this we need solar panels. These panels should be produced locally and not imported from some other country."

Further, the Minister referred to the quality of pupils coming out of the country's schooling sector and said that FET colleges should also play a role in compensating for some of the weaknesses in the schooling system.

"This is the only youth we have and we cannot export them and import a new youth, this is why we need to adjust our higher education system."

Of the 2,8-million South Africans between 18 years and 24 years that are currently not employed or busy with training or further education initiatives, two-million or 71% had not achieved grade 12.

In this regard, the department would be looking at including mathematics and science foundation programmes into the FET system.

Interestingly, Nzimande said that it would be more efficient to do away with learners repeating their matric year and to rather entering them into the college system, where they can then acquire relevant skills. "There is no point in repeating a year without learning any new things or skills, one can rather build on the knowledge that the pupils have acquired already."

Further, the department noted the importance of public FET colleges in forming close relationships with industry. "Facilitating work placement for college student and graduates must be at the heart of our skills development strategies.

"It must sound strange for a communist to be calling on capitalists for assistance, but increasing the placement of college graduates in the work place will go a long way in relieving unemployment numbers," said Nzimande.

The FET college system currently carries about 220 000 students in the public colleges and under 100 000 in private colleges, while the department has set a target of one-million students being enrolled in colleges by 2014.

The Minister admitted that this would be a "tall order", but was achievable with some revamping of the FET college system. "The outcomes of this summit will ultimately inform a Green Paper, which will survey the postschool education and training landscape and set out the policy and legislative changes needed to support strategic objectives.

"The FET sector will enter 2011 on a different footing, and as government together with the different stakeholders, we will ensure the transformation of this sector," concluded Nzimande.