A thousand additional artisan learners are to be trained at six Transnet Engineering facilities across the country.

The Department of Public Enterprises in collaboration with the Department of Higher Education and Training, and Transnet commenced a programme to oversee the optimisation of State Owned Companies’ (SOCs) training facilities by enrolling additional artisans for the national pool to address the shortage of scarce and critical skills needed in the country in support of the New Growth Path.

The National Skills Firm (NSF) allocated R175 million to Transnet Engineering to train an additional 1 000 learners over the next three years.

Transnet has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with three Further Education and Training Institutions (FET) in the Western Cape – the False Bay (Khayelitsha), Northlink and West Coast FET colleges. Which is in line with the government prescribed National Skills Accord, where SOC and the private sector form partnerships with FET institutions to develop scares skills in the country.

The state owned enterprise has also committed to open the School of Engineering facilities in Salt River, Cape Town, to learners and educators of the three FET colleges, where the SOC will provide learners with trade tests and opportunities for practical exposure to even include lecturers.

This will ensure that SOC and FETs become key drivers of scarce skills training and development, where artisans, technicians and engineers are the bedrock of the new economic skills set being developed in the country.