Alan Peat
FOLLOWING THE demise last year of the MITB (Maritime Industry Training Board) a whole new training structure has been put in place for the freight industry, according to Charles Dey, executive director of the f&c (forwarding and clearing) chamber of the transport SETA (Sector Education and Training Authority).
The Manpower Training Act - under which the MITB fell - was rescinded last March, he told FTW. It was superseded by the Skills Development Act and a skills development levy was put into place for each of the 26 SETAs.
In the Transport SETA, there are now eight chambers - representing aerospace; f&c; maritime (which includes the previously separate fishing sector); freight handling; road freight; road passenger; taxis; and rail.
With the exception of taxis and road passenger, all the chambers were previously ITBs - or members of an ITB, said Dey. And each had come some distance down the road of setting standards; putting in place Learnerships (leading to nationally/internationally recognised qualifications); registering qualifications; and administering levy systems.
All this had to be consolidated into a single entity, according to Dey.
Also, he said, bear in mind that there's no such thing as a transport industry - but rather a disparate collection of businesses, all with different skills and training needs.
Another role
The chamber also has another role acting as the education, training quality authority (ETQA) for the sector, listing approved training providers after quality-checking their courses, and monitoring on an on-going basis.
The contrast between the MITB and the SETA systems, according to Dey, is that MITB was very laissez faire, following its own direction.
But, he said, under the new act, this direction was laid down by government.
After having successfully established the foundation for the chamber and the training structure, we now need to manage the products that we've put into place
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
