Mpumalanga Business 2017-18 edition

OVERVIEW
Education and training
Mpumalanga students will study in Belarus.
SECTOR INSIGHT
Five boarding schools have
been built.
• A new tractor assembly
plant will provide training.
Training
The priorities of the Mpumalanga Department of Education
are to expand early childhood development programmes, to
promote skills development, especially through further education
and training (TVET) colleges, and to continue to invest in
school infrastructure.
Expressions of interest have been called for from the private sector
concerning a plan to build 500 new schools in the province over a
six-year period. Investors are sought for financing, design, construction,
equipping, and maintenance and property management. The
provincial government is proposing a 10-year lease period in which
time investors would be paid back.
Many of the biggest investors in the province support education
initiatives. These include Sappi’s donation of several classrooms to
Khanyisile Primary School near Barberton and programmes for pupils
and teachers at Entabamhlophe Combined School in Elandshoek near
the company’s mill at Ngodwana.
More than 800 000 pupils in primary and secondary schools are
beneficiaries of the provincial Department of Education’s school
nutrition programme and 1 604 schools in the province are in the
“no - fee school” category.
As a result of a treaty with the
Belarus region of Mogilev,
Mpumalanga students will
study at the Belarussian State
Agricultural Academy in agriindustry
fields such as agronomy,
biotechnology and aquaculture.
An agreement between MEGA
and Minsk Tractor Works to build
an assembly plant in Mpumalanga
will also create opportunities for
training welders, machinists and
mechanics.
Many companies in
Mpumalanga spend extensively
on training. Artisans who train at
the Hydra Arc facility in Secunda
are drawn from the company’s
own workforce, from other companies
and from the general population
aiming to learn new skills. In
his 2017 State of the Province address,
Premier David Mabuza noted
that Sasol had agreed to take
on artisans who had completed
training at Hydra Arc. He further
complimented mining company
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