This month, the spotlight falls on global youth skills development as we mark World Youth Skills Day on 15 July 2023.
Many South African employers offer skills development through learnerships to assist unemployed people. However, the lack of access to adequate education in South Africa has had a devastating effect on our youth, and as a result many do not even meet the most basic entry requirements to participate in these opportunities.
At the outset it must be said that it is not uncommon to find employers that are solely interested in improving their B-BBEE scorecards and do not really care about the welfare of learnership candidates.
This is evident in the lack of understanding that often prevails among employers regarding, for example, why so many learnership candidates don’t have a Matric certificate or relevant workplace experience. Employers are also often adamant that learnerships are not hosted within their own companies, making remedying the skills deficit even harder.
But the real challenge here lies in bridging the gap between secondary school education and both the formal and informal economies – the latter of which equates to approximately one third of the total economy (or around $338 billion at GDP PPP levels).
A recent media report¹ showed that although South Africa budgeted more than R298 billion for basic education during 2022-23 (equalling an expenditure of roughly R22 000 for each of the 13 419 971 learners in public schools) this has not translated into a better standard of education.
Public schools are struggling to cope with deteriorating buildings, a lack of educational equipment and resources, and staff shortages. Children and young adults simply cannot learn in such environments.
The results of this situation speak for themselves: only 20% of public schools function properly, with children in the top 200 functioning schools achieving more distinctions in maths than those in the next 6 600 schools combined.
Are we then surprised when, in the first quarter of 2022, Statistics SA put the unemployment rate among youth aged 15-24 at 63.9%? According to theglobaleconomy.com, South Africa’s youth unemployment is the second highest in the world.
What the country needs right now are solutions – solutions to empower school leavers, no matter their level or quality of secondary education, and solutions to help companies play a more central role in skills development.
We need learnerships that focus on real skills transfer, where learners get holistic skills development that makes them employable. We need more companies to get on board and invest in learners and learnerships, with the understanding that the playing fields are not equal, and therefore adjustments may need to be made for learnerships to be successful.
At Progression we understand both sides of youth unemployment, and have solutions that assist learnership candidates while at the same time helping companies meaningfully improve their B-BBEE scorecards.
Learners can develop and enhance their skills in specific fields through certified training programmes via SETA-accredited learnerships and/or internships.
We also have employment hubs that provide practical and theoretical experience, aimed at empowering learners to become more self-sufficient by developing real, usable skills.
Companies investing in these skills development opportunities can earn points on the Skills Development, Enterprise Development and Socio Economic Development elements of their scorecards.
Through this approach we aim to close the loop on youth unemployment, moving young adults who were products of the public schooling system from unskilled to skilled individuals, with a chance at participating in the economy at various levels.
It’s time to shift the narrative from merely talking about the country’s unemployed youth and the potential of learnerships to mitigate this, to actively implementing programmes that are part of the solution for the young adults of this country.
¹ Mail & Guardian, South African children’s grim prospects in a failing education system, April 2023
