By Akani Nkuna
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that the Presidential Employment Stimulus programme had created earning opportunities for more than two million people since it was launched in October 2020.
Giving his political report at the opening session of the ANC’s 5th National General Council at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Ramaphosa told delegates to keep education and skills reform at the centre of efforts to tackle poverty and unemployment.
The midterm policy meeting is scheduled to run from 8 to 10 December.
Ramaphosa said the Basic Education Employment Initiative had created more than one million opportunities for young people as school assistants.
“We have often said that education must be at the centre of our fight against poverty. We have seen a steady progress in improving our educational outcomes. Last year, our learners achieved an 87% matric pass rate, the highest recorded in our democratic history,” he told delegates.
The national pass rate for the 2024 National Senior Certificate was 87.3%, up from 82.9% in 2023, the highest on record, Ramaphosa said.
He also praised the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for widening access to post-school education, saying it funded over 800,000 university and TVET students.
“However, we need to do much more if we are to have a skills revolution,” Ramaphosa said.
“The skills system needs to shift towards producing skills linked to demand in the economy. We need to consider a radical overhaul of the SETA system and introduce a dual academic and on-the-job training system,” he said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
