Everyone is talking about the youth unemployment crisis in our country and what can be done to remedy this. Leading skills development company, the Skills Development Corporation (SDC) is doing their part by upskilling our youth and making them ‘employable’ and are pleased to announce the successful graduation of 71 learners who received their SETA Accredited Qualifications, from the Johannesburg campus.
Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni highlighted earlier this week that ‘8.2 million young people between the ages of 15 and 34 are not in education, employment or training.’ He also highlighted that ‘raising skills and improving the matching of young people and jobs is an important focus of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention.’
“We’ve been very aware of this concerning statistic and have been working with our clients to ensure that the level of training and accredited learnership programmes we offer, meet the dire needs of a massive part of our population,” says Gareth Bird, Chief Operating Officer at SDC.
The group of graduates this week are qualified in the following areas;
· End User NQF Level 3: 28 Graduates
End User Computing at NQF Level 3 is intended for learners already employed or new learners entering the workplace, requiring End User Computing skills. The qualification is designed to accommodate both learners in formal education and learners already employed.
· Technical Support NQF Level 4: 21 Graduates
The learner will be able to communicate knowledgeably with IT staff & users of information systems. They will be able to now demonstrate an understanding of different types of computer systems and the use of computer technology in business as well as Data Communications and Network Support.
· System support NQF Level 5: 22 Graduates
The purpose of this qualification is to develop learners with the requisite competencies against the skills profile for the systems support career path. The overarching aim is to develop a broader base of skilled ICT professionals to underpin economic growth.
Government needs to step up and remedy the unemployment crisis and make use of skilled and trained youth which SDC believe was highlighted in the recent 2020 Budget Speech. “We’re pleased to see government placing such significant focus on making the unemployed youth more marketable, however we also need to create an environment where the economy is reacting and where we can create jobs within the economy” says Gareth in a recent interview on Cape Talk. He continues, “If our economy is growing at less than 1% (0.9 according to our Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni in this year’s budget speech), where will jobs come from? We need to monitor government’s commitment closely and add pressure to ensure they’re doing all they can to rectify a crisis that could essentially sink our country.”
SDC offer a free skills development audit. To learn more about how your business can become involved in turning the education crisis around, speak to SDC via the website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn pages.
