The Minister welcomed and congratulated the new NSA Chairperson Ms Lulama Nare into her new portfolio and thanked Mr Thulani Tshefuta for acting in the portfolio while processes for the new Chairperson were being concluded. In his remarks the Minister impressed that the NSA should play a strategic role in advising the Minister as per the Skills Development Act and start to engage with its new mandate of becoming an expert body on monitoring and evaluation.
He stressed that job creation is one of the key priorities for government and that it was imperative that skills development should be aligned to key economic growth sectors. The Minister highlighted the critical importance of ensuring the creation of capacity within the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector to interpret skills development economic trends. The Minister made a call to the NSA to advise on key economic growth sectors in which skills development should focus on, in order to improve economic growth and sustainable livelihoods.
The issues of articulation within the PSET system and the up skilling the current workforce and provision of resourcing and funding for worker education should be seriously considered.
In conclusion, the Minister highlighted that monitoring of the implementation of the NSDS and the impact of skills development should be prioritised. The mechanisms put in place for supporting skills development institutions and monitoring and evaluation of skills development implementation and the levies should be strengthened.