SA to pilot mass literacy campaign
Seshnee Govender
8 February 2008South Africa is set to pilot a mass literacy campaign targeting 300 000 adults and youngsters across the country this year.
Delivering his State of the Nation address at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town on Friday, President Thabo Mbeki said the Kha Ri Gude campaign would be piloted this year before being rolled out fully in 2009.
Mbeki said skills development was one of the government's "apex priorities" for 2008.
It would involve key interventions in South Africa's Further Education and Training colleges, Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas), and the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa).
It would also involve "resourcing schools in the lowest three quintiles, freeing them from the responsibility to charge fees, and speeding up on-the-job training for professional graduates".
The President said that projects under Jipsa - launched in 2006 to deliver on the skills requirements of government's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgi-SA) - would be intensified this year.
He also praised South Africans companies for helping the government to address the country's skills shortage.
"[W]e are greatly encouraged by the good response from the private sector, as demonstrated through the commitment by the CEOs of 70 JSE-listed companies to work with government in addressing the challenge of scarce skills," Mbeki said.
In 2006/07, the Department of Labour spent R37.8-million on providing adult basic education and training to almost 20 000 unemployed South Africans.
The government also spent R316-million on grants for 10 900 students placed on learnerships, apprenticeships and internships, and R78.5-million on bursaries for 1 148 undergraduate and 1 042 postgraduate students.
Source: BuaNews
