Grade 10 learners – the ’employees of tomorrow’ – stand to gain from a landmark agreement signed this past on Friday, 11 October, between the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) and the Eastern Cape Department of Education, which will see the implementation of a comprehensive life skills development programme specifically for them.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) sets the tone for youth development particularly in evolving study skills, career and self-development, social and environmental responsibility and physical education.
Addressing a group of school teachers and members of the department at the MOU signing ceremony today, CDC Business development executive manager Chris Mashigo said: “It is from your very pool of learners that we are looking for the future scientists and inventors who will work in the Coega IDZ. This is the reason the CDC is working hard to equip our own labour pool locally to be more employable. We would have to import labour from other provinces or countries if we did not do this, which is in no way ideal,” he said.
“We have a great and deep concern with skills development as we cannot succeed in industrial development without a strong skills base. Partnerships such as those cemented today will enable us to keep the promises we offer investors when they ask us to guarantee a competitive pool of labour,” Mashigo said.
The CDC’s human capital solutions unit is responsible for training and skills development and is highly cognisant of the importance of life orientation for young people. “The youth of the future are going to be working on big projects like Project Mthombo and it is critical for us to help prepare them for these future jobs where they will hold positions as operators, managers, and support staff,” said Duncan Grenfell, Coega’s Human Capital Solutions unit head of recruitment and placement.
Department of Education representative Raymond Beukes said life orientation and support was an area in which grade 10 learners needed special assistance.
“The reality is that 15 and 16-year-olds are not in a position to make important career focused decisions that will impact on their future,” he said. “As educators we know there is a critical need to support learners in our schools to reach optimum levels. Just as much as there must be investment in the likes of institutions such as Coega, we must also invest in our learners. They are the employees of tomorrow.”
Beukes, an education specialist in special needs at the Department of Education, also said education cannot survive on its own and partnerships are of “cardinal importance”.
Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC head of marketing and communications said: “This programme and intervention aims to catch young learners at a key point in their life development, so we can have a lasting impact on their personal growth.”
As part of the agreement, the Department of Education has established four training and developmental centres in Nelson Mandela Bay to accommodate the life skills development programme, as well as endorsing the facilitator, learner and evaluation training material that was developed through Coega’s Human Capital Solutions Business Unit.
A total 600 learners will receive training annually and participants will be drawn from all secondary schools across the city. A pilot project is already underway at two schools – Bethelsdorp and Douglas Mbopa Senior Secondary Schools – to test the efficiency of training material and assessment tools ahead of the roll out next year. The programme will officially launch at the onset of the new school year in January 2014.
Alan Straton
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