28 May 2010

It seems as if the government really has it in for us this time. For the last 10 years KumaloGreen has diligently complied with the government.  As Ivor Blumenthal, CEO of the Services Seta, recently said in the Star Workplace, “Private providers have sweated blood for a decade in establishing their relationships with Setas, in spite of often insurmountable Department of Education (DoE) and SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA) bureaucracy”.

 
Ivor is absolutely right, we have sweated blood (okay, and maybe even a few tears were involved too), to become an accredited training provider. Not a problem, if becoming an accredited provider secures our future in the South African training industry. But, if the new National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS)III is implemented, it looks like the future of the private provider could be doomed.
 
In a nutshell, if the new NSDS III is implemented, it will mean that businesses will only be able to claim back their skills levies, if they use the services of a public provider. Not only that, but the government also expects your average small provider to “bail” the public provider out and up-skill them, so that they can compete in the market.  The NSDS III proposes that private providers assume some sort of partnership role with state institutions and effectively operate under their umbrella.
 
Is the private provider going to survive this time round, lets wait and see…