Durban — The Chief Albert Luthuli Skills Centre will be a huge support in expanding Community Education Training (CET) opportunities, improving business operations and also creating job opportunities for unemployed education graduates.
This according to Department of Higher Education and Training director-general Nkosinathi Sishi during the official signing of the memorandum handover of Chief Albert Luthuli Skills Centre by founder and chairperson of Sibaya Community Trust Vivian Reddy to the Department of Higher Education in KwaDukuza on Friday.
Sishi said the skills centre would not only better enable people’s chances of finding employment, but would also empower people to be self-employed.
“I foresee this skills centre being a great contributor to the quest of DHET, as a government institution in transforming the lives of our community and the eradication of social injustice caused by social ills like gender-based violence, drugs and substance abuse and poverty,” said Sishi.
He said the contribution by Reddy was a perfect example of how Community Colleges can partner with various conceivable stakeholders in the quest of bringing about social justice through the creation of opportunities for skills empowerment.
“The contribution by Mr Reddy and Sibaya Community Trust comes at an opportune time, when our department has introduced a third tier of post-school education and training (PSET) institution called CET, after Universities and TVETs, to address the needs of those not in education, employment or training (NEET).
“In a true demonstration of the values espoused by our great Chief Albert Luthuli, these Community Colleges, one in each province, seek to ensure that even those who, for one reason or the other, could not be part of the mainstream education, are not left behind.
“This facility which you are handing over to KZN CET College today (Monday) will advance our National Plan for Post School Education and Training (NP-PSET) agenda.
“I trust that the leadership of the KZN CET College will continue to support, treasure and care for this centre in its quest to transform the lives of the KwaDukuza Community and its surroundings,” said Sishi.
Sibaya Community Trust founder and chairperson Vivian Reddy said when they opened the facility in 2016 his vision had always been to empower the community through education, and had known that at some point he would hand it over to the Higher Education and Training Department.
“When we initially built this facility over seven years ago, my vision was to always hand it over for the empowerment of the community, and who better to hand it to than the Department of Education, the people who will offer higher accredited learning which will carry a lot of merit when our young people go out to seek employment.
“The KwaDukuza Municipality played a huge role in this project and donated the land to us so that we could bring to life a flagship project which was conceptualised and created for the community of KwaDukuza.
“The skills deficit in our country is of concern and more especially in those areas where tertiary education is termed a luxury,” said Reddy.
He said Sibaya Community Trust contributed more than R20 million towards the building of the facility.
“All students attending courses at The Chief Albert Luthuli Skills Centre, receive their training at no cost.
“This site has changed people’s lives. To date, a phenomenal 3 000 learners have received skills training,” said Reddy
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