14 Aug 2013

Parliament has adopted the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) Bill, No 12 of 2013.

Presenting the bill, the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi explained that the bill sought to establish the Human Development Council and to provide for planning and funding of the human resource development services.

Dr Venson-Moitoi said the HRDC bill would address government’s intention to ensure that the planning and funding of the education and skills development sector was streamlined into a single integrated sub-system.

“The public policy objective of the bill is to ensure the realisation of the goals of the 1994 revised national policy on education, the 2008 tertiary education policy and the 2009 national human resource development strategy,” she said.

She said the three policies called for a close alignment on the outcomes of education and skills development, the employment demands of the economy and the important necessity to produce quality and globally competitive graduates.

She also said that the Bill would address government’s intention to consolidate and rationalise all planning and funding functions with regard to human resource development, by ensuring that the industry participates in the planning and funding of the human resources.

“This they do through identifying their human resource needs and packaging them into sector plans which are ultimately consolidated into a national human resource plan and this is a paradigm shift from the fragmented approach that has so far been employed. As a whole the benefits of establishing the HRDC will complement the BQA in ensuring that the skills produced are relevant to the world of work,” she said.

MPs supported the Bill saying that the establishment of the Bill would enhance the employability and economic benefits of the citizens of Botswana.

The MP for Bobirwa, who is also the Minister Of Youth, Sport & Culture, said that the council that will be established under the bill should rely heavily on the interpretation of statistics for decision making so that they are able to have proper training skills for the market.

“Accountants, IT specialists we need people of this nature and this is what the market is looking for, we need people endowed with expertise with respect to research so that research can inform the whole decision making process within government,” he said.

The Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is also the MP for Moshupa, said the bill would not only be consolidating the planning and funding for future human resource development, but will also be streamlining the way in which it is accessed, unlike the status quo where there is desperate accessing of this kind of funding.

“As a nation known to be quite frugal in its planning and use of resources relative to many is the fact that we will stop funding human resource on the basis of wants but rather on national needs and this is very important to underscore,” he said. Ends