South Africa’s 264 Further Education and Training (FET) colleges will receive a R2.5 billion budget boost.
|||The country’s 264 Further Education and Training (FET) colleges will receive a R2.5 billion budget boost for refurbishment and the construction of new campuses over the next three years.
This was announced by President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on Wednesday at a meeting with FET college principals.
The meeting was held to discuss the role that the colleges should play in skills development, particularly in line with the national infrastructure plan Zuma announced in his State of the Nation address in February.
“This year, we decided to single out infrastructure. The relevance of FET colleges in the infrastructure development project cannot be overstated.
“The construction, maintenance and operation of infrastructure as well as the operation of assets require the kind of skills that FET colleges can provide.”
Zuma said the planned infrastructure included expanding ports and rail lines, modernising road networks, building dams, irrigation systems, power stations, renewable energy plants, schools, hospitals and universities.
He said the colleges must improve their performance, absorb more students and increase the number of graduates they produced.
“We want school-leavers, including disheartened ones – some of whom stand on street corners daily with no hope for the future – to come back to the education and training system and benefit from vocational training,” he added.
Education analyst Graeme Bloch said it was good that FET colleges were being roped in on this, but there was a lot that still needed to be done to strengthen the colleges’ performance.
He said with sufficient funding and staff development and training, FET colleges would be able to step up to the plate.
Bloch said the R2.5bn allocation was “a start, but would cost a hell of a lot more” for the colleges to improve their performance.
The Star