Drastic measures are required to ensure that our basic and higher education systems are delivering skilled graduates who can address the developmental needs of our economy. This is even more urgent in the move towards free higher education in order to avoid adding to the ever-growing pool of unemployed graduates.
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Success will only be achieved by the concerted and coordinated efforts of all stakeholders.
Mismatch
Firstly, it is imperative that career counselling becomes a key focus in the final years of high school. Its current status as part of the ‘amorphous’ subject called Life Orientation has resulted in it being given insufficient attention, resulting in students qualifying for higher education places, selecting courses that are a mismatch both to their innate capabilities and to the needs of the rapidly evolving economy. The role of career counsellors should become a stand-alone imperative.
Secondly, funders – be they private sector companies through bursaries, or state institutions like the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) – need to become more focused and discriminating in the courses for which they provide finance so that they become more closely aligned with the needs of the country.
Critical role
Thirdly, parents have a critical role to play in reorienting their own thinking as to what represents
‘success’ to them and their children. The attainment of a university degree is seen as the pinnacle of achievement for most parents, in most cases without reference to what field the degree is conferred for. Yet many of these graduates languish in joblessness and despair through poor course selection.
The perceived inferiority of technical and vocational training needs to be vigorously countered.
Finally, employers have to be constantly signalling to the providers of skills their current and future requirements. They can do this by establishing closer relationships with the private and public higher education establishments in their areas of operations that will enable them to provide input into the curricula, but also into the softer skills that they require of potential employees.
Given that education continues to be the largest component of our national budget, with arguably the poorest return, it is imperative that measures are put in place to remedy this situation.
After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, he joined the family construction business as MD for 10 years.
He subsequently joined his sister in their furniture manufacturing business as director for quality assurance and operations. He was responsible for all quality aspects of their products, and led the project to the business achieving an ISO 9000 quality accreditation. As an export focused business, this was important for our international competitiveness.
Mr Naidoo has an abiding interest in quality management and productivity improvement, particularly in manufacturing.
More recently, he has focused a lot of his time on giving back to the community by way of mentorship of small businesses and sitting on the executive of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also sits on the Board of the Ugu South Coast Development Agency.
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