Province moves towards4IR curriculum

The Limpopo provincial government has launched a youth skills development initiative to help youngsters gain expertise that will stand them in good stead in the tough jobs market.

Premier Chupu Mathabatha said this was important because the biggest proportion of unemployed youngsters were those who did not have a matric.

“They constitute more than 55% of the unemployed population. This is followed – at almost 35% – by those with matric as their highest qualification,” Mathabatha said.

He said that, through a partnership with MSC College in Polokwane, Gijima and MictSeta, the province had placed more than 300 youngsters in a 12-month-long skills augmentation programme.

A similar partnership between the provincial government and Google SA will lead to cooperation in the training of young people in digital skills, computer science and cybersecurity.

Mathabatha said that, regarding the National Youth Service Programme, the province had collaborated with the MerSeta for welding learnerships at NQF Level 4 and trade tests for 62 students. He said this would be completed in May.

Read: Let us prepare teachers to engage the fourth industrial revolution

Other initiatives include an artisan partnership with Small Enterprise Development Agency Limpopo, which has provided opportunities for 72 students in the province’s Jewellery Incubator Programme, which is set to continue until next year.

“We are also in collaboration with the Services Seta involving 110 young participants on a cleaning and hygiene project in all of the five districts.”

Mathabatha said they recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Roasa to implement a MerSeta programme for 70 interns to be placed in all five districts for a period of 24 months.

This includes 100 electrical apprenticeships, 25 in welding, 25 in fitting and 25 in diesel mechanics. The programme will be implemented through the Waterberg TVET College.

“Working together with the SA National Council for the Blind, we have placed 39 blind and short-sighted young people in various municipalities,” he said.

Mathabatha also said that the Limpopo education department would be introducing the Coding and Robotics Curriculum in 110 primary schools next year.

He said 15 secondary schools were offering information technology in Grade 12, while 46 schools were offering computer applications technology.

This forms part of the department’s initiative to prepare pupils for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

Mathabatha said that, as part of the initiative to ensure maximum attendance and concentration at school, government would continue to provide scholar transport to all pupils residing at least 5km from their nearest school.

“We are currently transporting more than 42 000 pupils to and from school every school day through our scholar transport initiative,” he said.

Mathabatha said they would also continue to ensure that the school nutrition programme, which presently benefits more than 1.6 million pupils, reaches as many needy children as possible: “These pupils receive their meals every single school day.”

He added: “In line with our school sanitary towels project, we have set aside an amount of R32 million to benefit more than 520 000 schoolgirls from Grade 6 to Grade 12.”

He said the 3.8% increase in the matric pass rate last year was a significant improvement and a clear indication that the province was on track to achieve its 80% target.

“Most importantly, nine out of 10 of our education districts are performing above 65%. It is also worth mentioning that the number of our underperforming circuits has been reduced from 51 in 2018 to 37 last year. We can’t forget to mention that, out of the 33 best-performing students in the country, nine came from Limpopo.” – Mukurukuru Media

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