Article 2007

Education and skills for development in South Africa: Reflections on the accelerated and shared growth initiative for South Africa

International Journal of Educational Development
Journal · Vol. 27 · Issue 4 · pp. 421-434
Abstract

In July 2005, President Mbeki announced the launch of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), a new development strategy designed to help the South African state meet the ANC's 2004 election pledges, namely:•halve unemployment;•halve poverty;•accelerate employment equity; and•improve broad-based black economic empowerment. AsgiSA outlines a very different development path from the current orthodoxy of the Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers in spite of the common commitment to halving poverty. This difference in approach encompasses the education and skills sector, where post-basic provision is given considerable attention. This paper seeks to explore why South Africa has taken this different approach, especially in education and skills development. It examines what the current evidence tells us about the strategy's likely success. Finally, it briefly considers the implications this case might have for the dominant model of African education and development. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Author Keywords

skills development South Africa education economic development

Index Keywords

equity educational development economic development unemployment Sub-saharan africa poverty alleviation South Africa Africa Southern Africa Millenium Development Goal
Author Affiliations
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
Human Sciences Research Council of, Durban, South Africa
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
References 10 References
1 Manifesto 2004 A People S Contract to Create Work and Fight Poverty, (2004)
2 Vocational Education and Training in Southern Africa A Comparative Study, (2005)
3 undefined, (2007)
4 South African Labour Bulletin, (2004)
5 Development Policy Research Unit, (2004)
6 Elite Transition, (2000)
7 High Skills, (2001)
8 Human Resources Development Review 2003, (2003)
9 State of the Nation South Africa 2005 2006, (2006)
10 Our Common Interest Report of the Commission for Africa, (2005)
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