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The Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) will soon be replaced by a new structure called the Human Resource Development Strategy SA (HRDS-SA), deputy director general in the Presidency Alan Hirsch told the National Assembly's labour committee.
"The HRDS-SA has been approved in broad terms by Cabinet and is due to run from April 1," he said.
Jipsa, launched in 2006 under Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, would be incorporated into the HRDS-SA.
Although Hirsch did not elaborate on the new structure, he said that the education department would be responsible for the formation of HRDS-SA.
"Jipsa engages regularly with the HRDS-SA architects at the department of education to provide support and input," he said.
While Jipsa had played a major role in removing many of the bottlenecks hindering the development of key skills, particularly in engineering, it had become clear that many of the challenges could be best addressed by a more focused structure.
"There are still significant weaknesses in our placement programmes - taking up offers, recruitment, selection, orientation and support - these can only be addressed through a strong dedicated agency," Hirsch said.
The new structure was taking over at a time when the country's engineering and artisan training programmes were beginning to deliver.
Plans to train 2 000 engineers per year by 2010, a 33% increase on the output of 2006, were on track.
The labour department, in conjunction with the Skills Education and Training Authorities, had finalised plans to register 22 000 artisan trainees in 2008.
- Sapa
