An Open letter to the Minister of Higher Education and Training
I am an unemployed graduate, a product of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme with more than five years in the labour market, seemingly with no prospect of ever getting a job, and the interests in the NSFAS loan accumulating that I am in serious debt even before I get employed. The fact that I am not the only product of this scheme means the scheme will inevitably face a sustainability crisis in the not so distant a future. It is a fact that the country is facing serious skills shortage in various sectors while there are many African black graduates sitting idle in the townships with no hope of ever getting formal employment despite the many years spent at universities with the hope that they will finally break the chains of poverty. The argument given for their plight is that these people lack the necessary skills to be employable because they are either uneducated or semi-educated but this argument ignores that many of these are black African graduates went to reputable universities known to churn out high caliber graduates who are all-rounded.
Many of these black graduates feel betrayed by society after all the exhortation by society to seek education to achieve a better life. It is not far-fetched to state uncategorically that all unemployed graduates in this country are blacks, or to put it more succinctly are black South Africans. This is a scar that blemishes our national conscience, a scar that proves that you may seek but never find. Access to education may be a reality but entry into the formal economy remains very, very limited to many blacks today as it was it the old days.
We read in the papers and hear that our universities produce graduates who are not work ready. In other words graduates who do not the skills needed by the industry. This is a fallacy that needs to be debunked once and for all. Why it is that only black graduates are deemed to be unemployable? Separate education is no longer in existence today; white and black students go to the same universities and study the same curriculum but its only blacks that roam the streets in search of employment.
Some of these graduates , like me went to university at a late age, and came out of universities past the stage of being considered as youths because they are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some like me , went to renowned universities, like UCT, Stellenbosch, KZN University, Witwatersrand etc; the so-called cream of the Historically White Institutions and graduated well in standard time with honours degrees. But
Such an experience is really painful, spending years at a respected university in the hope that this will help one achieve a better life and assist his or her family, only to find that this was like wasted years and effort. The promise of the struggle that the doors of education shall be opened for all meant a lot to many, was an inspiration and when the government set up the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to help disadvantaged get tertiary education they grabbed the opportunity.
The dream they had was that this will benefit the country as they would be able to meaningful contribute to the economy as well as assist their siblings realize their dreams of going through higher education. The dream has but turned into a nightmare. Another danger is that such a situation discourages the young to aspire to go through university education.
I appeal to the Minister to consider the case of unemployed graduates like me and fight for the New Growth Path to create a mechanism of ensuring that this plight we face is addressed. The Minister in conjunction with the Minister of Public Enterprises should consider utilizing the public service and state-owned enterprises to give graduates the experience required by industry.
While the financial assistance that the government gives to students who would not afford tertiary education costs is commendable, it has become a debt-trap for many beneficiaries. If one fails to get gainful employment to service the NSFAS debt one surely set to be trapped in debt forever. The NSFAS loan continues to accumulate through interests overtime irrespective of the situation one is in. Now many like me find themselves in default and with a threat of formal legal action being taken against them .There is no intention on their part to default but it is the socio-economic situation they are in that paralyses all their good intentions.
The NSFAS will prove unsustainable in the not so long a distant future as long as it assists students who are set up to default on their obligations. There are ways to avoid this undesirable situation. The Financial aid scheme, the SETAs and the SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) should work in tandem if the problems of skills shortage and unemployment are to be solved.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme is a noble idea that should be treasured and the government has a duty that it cannot derelict to ensure its survival. The government put up infrastructure like the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to provide training needed in different sectors of the economy and these should work with NSFAS. These authorities know the skills required in their sectors and have large funds in their coffers from the Skills Development Levy paid by their constituent industries. SETAs should inform the Financial Aid Scheme of the skills required by their industries and work with NSFAS sponsoring students through tertiary education in the identified skills thereby ensuring that students study exactly what industry wants. This will ensure that many things.
First it will ensure that the SETAs funds are fully utilized rather than be stashed in some bank accounts while the country needs various skills. These industries should have companies within the sector who sign an undertaking to employ the graduates who completed studies in the fields they have identified as lacking skilled people. The SETAs would ensure that companies’ undertakings to absorb graduates becomes a reality upon graduation and are even prepared to give such students practice time during their vacations. Large corporations give bursaries to students to pursue studies in areas they have identified as needing certain skills but not all companies can afford to do that hence a need for them to inform their industries who in turn enter into contract with the NSFAS to support identified areas of study.
In this way the great debate of skills shortage will be seen for what it is, self-made and within the nation’s ability to solve. It is a welcome development that the SETAs have been moved from the department of Labour to Higher Education and Training. The department of Higher Education and Training should give a directive to all SETAs to enter into contracts with companies within their sectors to list the number of people in each identified scarce skill and undertake to absorb them after graduation.
The country has no reason to be suffering from skills shortage when there are funds and institutions that through capable management can and should be producing all sorts of skilled people that the economy wants. Industry as well has no reason to be lamenting the shortage of skilled workers when they pay skills levy.
Secondly it will ensure that all graduates are employed upon graduation; levels of poverty are reduced and the economy functions at full capacity. Thirdly where industry cannot absorb graduates sponsored by NSFAS there are State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) who should be obliged to take these graduates and give them the necessary industry experience. Where the SETAs cannot or have not identified as scarce skills the NSFAS sponsor students as it currently does. It is true that the skills needed by the economy cannot be provided by universities only; industry should play its part in training people in identified scarce skills. This is the role state-owned -enterprises should take the lead in as their mandate is to support the national economy and not to maximize profits for shareholders.
This brings us to another debate that should be regarded as out of order, the call for the government to privatize these state-owned enterprises. The mandate to support the national economy includes training people in skills that the economy needs instead of aiming for astronomical profits while the country grinds to a halt due to lack of a skilled labour force.
Fourthly, such an arrangement will ensure that the scheme becomes sustainable and many more desiring students are assisted in future. It will also ensure that skills needed by industry are available. The apprentice programmes that used to produce many artisans in the old days should be revived and the SOEs should be given a directive to churn out as many artisans as the economy requires. Training should be a core mandate of the SOEs and they be required to announce the number of trained people in each financial year and these be used as a measure of success.
The country cannot afford to privatize these enterprises when it does not know who will train people in the skills the country desires. The profits that these SOEs make should be channeled into training in the skills needed by the whole economy before they declare profits. The government is the major shareholder on behalf of all citizens in these enterprises and the way to pay dividends to all, is to train citizens for skills needed by the national economy. This mandate to support the national economy as well as to ensure that the nation has the skills required should be written in bold in the mission and vision statements of all state-owned enterprises. As citizens we should not be worried about how much of profit they register at the end of the financial year but about the degree to which these SOEs truly support the prosperity of the economy. In this era the performance of these parastatals leaves much to be desired as they have behaved like private companies focusing on profitability and ignoring the function of skilling the workforce. The success of SOEs needs to be measured on their ability to support economic growth and in their readiness to meet the urgent needs of the nation. The urgent needs of the economy today are a skilled workforce; therefore the training our young people to fully participate in the economy should be the biggest measure of success.
Back to the NSFAS and the plight of unemployed graduates sponsored by this scheme, that it is a brainchild of the government in its noble desire to educate the unfortunate is not debatable. The government therefore has an obligation to see to it the scheme is sustainable. The reality that there are graduates who are beneficiaries of this scheme who are idle is undoubtedly the government’s problem as this situation threatens the viability of the scheme going into the future. The concept behind its establishment is a noble one but when its sustainability is under threat it raises questions about the research undertaken before its establishment to guard against its unsustainability.
Beneficiary graduates would be able to service their debts thereby ensuring its sustainability, if they get gainful employment where they also contribute to the development of the national economy. It still boggles my mind how it did not dawn on the architects of the scheme that failure of graduates sponsored by the scheme to get gainful employment will inevitably threaten the continued existence of the scheme. The responsibility is with the government that these graduates get employment if they are not all absorbed by the private sector.
Private companies that sponsor students through tertiary education expect these students to work for them for many reasons among them to recoup their expenditure, to close their skills gaps and to give them the experience they need. This makes simple business sense. Why and how the architects of the scheme never thought of possible losses in revenue and the possibility of creating an army of frustrated unemployed graduates astonishes me. The existence of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme is under threat and in the streets the country is witnessing an ever increasing army of unemployed graduates, who can be threat to the order of the day, as they say a hungry man is an angry man and more so if the man is educated.
The great debate of skills shortage in the country is self-made and can be addressed. It is possible for the nation to supply all forms of skills that the economy requires at any given time and even export surplus. This is within the nation’s means if there is a will and commitment to plan carefully and prudently utilize the resources at its disposal as well as the infrastructure so far put in place. The NSFAS and the Skills Development Levy generated funds can train many engineers of all sorts, doctors, artisans and managers the country needs. On the job experience and practice can be gained in the infrastructure development that the developmental state should be developing to support economic growth.
There is no doubt that such thinking will supply the skills that the country desires and do away with the scourge of unemployed graduates which is a blemish on our national conscience.
Fikile Dube is a UCT BCom Honours; BSocSc (UCT); former SRC member and Speaker of Student Parliament. Cell # 0838973302; fmotsamai@hotmail.com.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ann van Wezel on -
what subjects did he study for his degree?
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Permalink Reply by Moira de Roche on
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I really hope the Minister gets to read this Fikile. You make so many good points. I'm sad that someone as qualified as you, with clear leadership qualities, can't find employment. An this is exacerbated by your having a loan to pay off.
It doesn't help you, but I hope your letter makes people think twice before going to University. We have to get away from a mindset that says only a University degree is worth anything. Individuals are often better served getting a skill from an FET college that will enable them to find work - albeit at the lower salary, or even start their own business if they are entrepreneurially minded. Once they have a practical qualification, and an income, they can always consider getting their degree part time.
The problem with the SETA's is that they are mostly focused only to matric level (Level 5). They'll argue that this is not the case, but in practice it is. My personal view is that SETA's should be scrapped, and levy money used to subsidize entry level employees. This would enable companies to employ graduates such as yourself, or school leavers, but not have to fund the entire salary for someone with no experience. Everyone wins - the employee won't have to settle for a too-low salary, and the employer doesn't have the concern that someone new to the business can't contribute fully for a time. Now I'll duck- because I'm sure many people whose livelihoods depend on the SETA system will be throwing rotten eggs at me .....
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Permalink Reply by Peet du Plessis on -
Dear Fikile
One correction on your perception that all unemployed graduates in the country are blacks. I have two sons who just finished their degrees this year. One a B.Com and the other a B. Theology. I paid for both of them over the last 4 to 5 years at university. I worked two jobs (a day job and an evening and weekend job) to be able to do that as they did not stand a chance to get a bursary or a NSFAS loan because they are white. Furthermore now that they graduated they could not find a job in any government department, or SOE, or most of the corporate sector companies, like the banks, because of a moratorium on the appointment of whites. They both did various kinds of part-time jobs whilst studying, and based on that exposure, they have both been able to find employment for next year, albeit at a mediocre salary compared to their qualifications.
On most of your other points I tend to agree and I do feel for you as I do for the millions of other unemployed people, but as you may realise, we have a government that on a daily basis over-promises and under-delivers. And until there is a realistic commitment from every politician and every government official to work for the betterment of ALL the people in our beloved country, and not just for their own interest and enrichment your open letter to the minister will only stay an open letter.
All the best. I certainly hope that you will find employment soon.
Sputangia Training said:Fikile, you have highlighted to me the problem (wihout directly saying it) - Let me try: In the private sector it is not a person's qualifications that count, but what he/she can do. Universities do not aim to teach persons specific job related competencies (apart from perhaps the professional degrees such as engineering, medical and accounting... some touch on it, such as industrial psychology and so on). A general degree such as B.Com and the social sciences are not marketable per se.
There is however no reason to sit at home with a degree. One answer is to to start selling something - with a B.Com as background this will surely appeal to you. Start your own business - a B.Com will have given you a head start over all the thousands that start businesses with a bad matric pass!
Then there is the whole issue of just lowering the price (the minimum salary you would expect) - as you will have learnt in economics (and if you have attended an auction) - the market clears if there is no floor price...
Good luck - you letter is filled with what others (including the minister) should do to change your plight... perhaps it is time to take direct action to improve you own situation.
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Permalink Reply by Shaun Lindbergh on -
Fikile, Good letter! You certainly highlight the government's failure to plan and execute strategically. It is a disgrace. It would of course be good if the government were to address the points you raise but I doubt that the Minister or anyone else near that seat of power will do much about it. Certainly not in a time frame that would solve your immediate problem.
How can I help you?
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Permalink Reply by bertie wicks on
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Hi Fikile,
Thank you for an interesting letter, your frustration at not being able to do anything about your situation comes through.I suggest rule no 1, when in doubt, pray for wisdom, rule number 2 give as mant details as you can...where are you, what are you wanting to do etc. maybe there is someone out here who can help you. If you are near Durban, come in and see me.It is not just black graduates who are unemployed, there are thousands of qualified white, Indian Chinese Coloured people in the same boat. Until the people of South Africa agree to let the best person for the job get the job, we are all going to suffer.Abraham Lincoln once sAID YOU CANNOT STRENGTHEN THE WEAK BY WEAKENING THE STRONG, OR WORDS TO THAT EFFECT.
Rule number 3 keep looking.You cannot win the lotto without a ticket.Take every opportunity to make yourself more employable.What do you think Nelson Mandela did in jail? It was him who said South Africans will have lifelong learning and that is what we have.For years we were deprived of inter-racial contact, which stunted all of us, and now we have to make up that knowledge and keep the wheels turning.
I believe that South Africans have the skills we need, we just have to take away the BEE,tenderpreneurs, corruption, and crime and go to a market-based economy, where we all compete on our abilities and skills.We need to support our industry, not China's , our farmers not imports, our motor industry etc.Like the Springboks, blacks have to support whites and whites coloureds...no, when they're on the field, no-one looks to see if they're black or white, just that they score.
Keep us posted Fikile, respond to the comments, kom broer.
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Permalink Reply by Sindy Marais on
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Hi Fikile
You have some valid points, however I disagree all graduates have a problem getting into the job market be they from any race and background, I have personal experience. As a recruiter I see many graduates who expect that dream job, without the experience unfortuanely the job market is full of exprienced candidates who will naturally qualify for those dream jobs. My advice is take a job that's beneath your qualifications prove and market yourself in the company, you'll be noticed and growth is sure to come. A job in a direct social science field may not be available but social science is the core of interaction use it in a different sector till you reach your dream.
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Housdon Cooke on -
Well said, Fikile. The SOEs could certainly do with some assistance with regard to skills enhancement - provided they have the infrastructure and sufficient skills at the outset, to manage such an initiative. I completely agree with your suggestion regarding the future of the SETAs, and echo Moira de Roche's sentiments in this regard.
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Permalink Reply by Khoete Gilbert on
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Fikile! There is a problem with our educational system, it creates more job seekers than entrepreneurs, so the job seekers when the graduates they need an Entrepreneurs to create jobs so that they can work, But our country it's seems as if it is not awear of this, inconclusoin the politicians can not create jobs but they can only level the ground, and then the Entrepreneurs can CREATES JOB, Lets our government identify AN ENTREPRENEURS then GRADUATES would not idle....its upto u MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING....with our company we can hire more than 1000 graduates per month under TETA SECTOR....We have briliant concepts....
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Permalink Reply by Loshni Naidoo on -
Hi Fikile,
You have written well,and I understand your plight. Unfortunately you may not know of others out there in worse situations than you and you will feel that you are a victim of circumstance.
Like some of the others who have responded,I also know of cases in my own family.My cousins who hold degrees,gone up to honours and masters,have also been victims of unemployment and they also contribute to the stats of highly qualified 'street walkers' looking for any opportunity to work. They were also in a predicament when they were unable to get any bursaries,scholarships or loans and their parents had to take out an extra bond on the house to send them to university.
Every parent out there wants their child to be educated and will do anything possible to make sure that happens,but if that child continues with a victim mentality and waits to be spoon fed all their lives,then yes,no job will come their way. I know that my cousins had to take a really hard look at their situation,nobody could help them but they themselves.They made sacrifices,left home,moved up to Jhb and literally went out everyday dropping off their CV's and stopping at various recruitment agencies and filled out forms.There are definitely businesses out there who also employ inexperienced people who have the education qualifications,but you will only know this is if you knock on many doors.My cousins are now in good jobs in Jhb,and their parents have actually decided to move up and be with them.They are all girls.
Personally,I feel that you need to be positive,build on your confidence,and go out there.The governement is not going to do anything for any of us.We will have to sit and wait for them to make poilcy changes,but we will also let our lives slip past us.
You seem to have the abilities,the confidence and the intelligence,and I think that you can make a difference to yours and your family's life,but ONLY YOU can do it.
I wish you all the best.
Loshni Naidoo ( Indian)
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ContributorPermalink Reply by Berrington Ntombela on -
Dearest Fikile,
The plight of the thinness of our blood in the employment sector is far more real than you could ever pen down. In an effort to move upwards the employment laddder that would match my qualification I was turned down on the grounds of not having experience in the field. The experience has since been addressed and now I am labelled as being overqualified. This is not much different from my brother's predicament who mourns that conditions of employment in the formerly white-favoured sector has changed myriads of times in order to safeguard the interests of them with thicker blood whose qualifications do not go beyond Grade 10 level, albeit being in manegarial positions. This condition however seems to duplicate itself in many racial sectors and indicates the commonness of human suffering, which unfortunately get pronounced among the majority. Not all of us are or should be business or entrepreunial oriented, hence the many fields we pursue that matches our being and personality make-up. With that reality, the architects of our education and employment systems and of course ourselves have a lot of homework to do. That should be able to take us somewhere.
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Permalink Reply by Phill Tshepo Isaac on -
Dear Fikile
Good decision, to submit that kind of comment as it is also marketing yourself, but I can also advice you that whilst you are still looking for your right job, do something else and eradicate looking at some other things politically. I have friends who went to Varsity, graduated but they are not working according to their trades, do something also.
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Permalink Reply by Greatwill Segopolo on -
Fikzo its realy hard been unemploted but it becomes more harder pointing fingers rather than finding solution and seeking for help, e.g as i read many comments on your post most people think you are being racial of which it sound so and believe you me my friend no one wants to hire someone who has someone to blame, let not your cry be another obstacle for you, at the same time let us not also be afraid to state our views because we afraid of been sidelined, your points are really valid much, but my friends many people have complain about this but nothing is happening instead you are just hurting yourself rather start sending or posting your profile in walls likes this, there's a great deal of network here, and im sure people have heard your cry something or some1 wil come through for you, may God opens locked doors of employement, opportunities possibilities for you
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