Learnership programmes, if not properly implemented, could result in a pool of unemployed skilled people, says Nhlanhla Goba of Goba and Associates.
Speaking last night at a First Tuesday discussion on issues around learnerships, Goba said most of the problems with learnership programmes revolved around implementation, with many people seeing such projects simply as money-making schemes.
First Tuesday is a membership-based forum for business executives.
"To assume that unemployment can be resolved through leaderships is to be unrealistic," Goba said. "The result of improper application could be thousands of skilled people, with some experience, but still unemployed."
Outlearning director Susheila Moodley agreed that some employers saw learnerships as cheap labour because they are not forced to take learners on once their learnership periods end. "Legislation is lacking in that regard," she commented.
Lead employers registered with a sector education training authority (SETA) receive a grant per learner, as well as a tax break from government.
Moodley explained that the financial benefits differed from SETA to SETA. For the Services SETA, having a learner on an NQF (National Qualifications Framework) 4 level would qualify for a R24 000 stipend for the learner, R10 000 for the employer for administration and R6 000 for training provision.
In addition, up to R50 000 per learner is tax deductible, depending on a formula, although an audience member pointed out that a full R50 000 deduction is rare, with the primary criterion being how much is spent on the learner.
Ursula Conrad of Dimension Data said if learnerships were not built into the company strategy, it was not worthwhile.
"You need to look at where the gap is in the business and immediately create a marriage between the learners and where the gap is in the company," she said. "There are a lot of good things happening. There are good incentives from government, but unless the company commits to the process, it won`t work."
"The R40 000 grant is a subsidy," said Millie Rasekoala of the Services SETA. "You don`t have to work within that framework. If you are committed to the process, you need to spend more. Look at it as investing in the future of someone who is going to be very valuable to your company."
Panellists agreed that companies too often looked only at the numbers and not at whether they would be able to place the learners into full-time employment after the learnership had ended.
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