Sanaco secretary-general Thulani Mabuza
A three-year-old memorandum of understanding (MoU) has progressed to its midway point, as the Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (Ewseta) and South African National Apex Cooperatives (Sanaco) kicked off the next phase of their deep rural skills development programme.
The 2012 training agreement had realised the ambitions of upskilling 175 of the most impoverished students residing in the far reaches of rural South Africa with an accredited National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 1 basic electrical engineering certificate.
The students, scattered across seven of South Africa’s nine provinces, had now entered the second phase NQF level 2 learnership, before concluding their studies at NQF level 3 next year, with the programme aiming to develop artisans and electrical engineers to bolster skills in the energy sector.
Speaking on the sidelines of the project’s official launch and NQF 1 graduation ceremony on Monday, Sanaco secretary-general Thulani Mabuza told Engineering News Online that the parties were currently engaging local municipalities in each of the represented provinces and regions to absorb the newly qualified students and put them to use in their home towns and regions to create an “exit strategy” for learners post training.
Mabuza added that more support was required to create opportunities for potential students living on the peripheries of South Africa’s cities or towns, calling on government to provide more funding and support to take the training programme full circle and equip the students with a NQF 6 diploma.