Education and Skills for the Economy and Links to Labour Markets in South Africa

This paper, prepared for the National Planning Commission (NPC), examines progress in the education sector against the National Development Plan (NDP), but also assesses the NDP itself. In hindsight, how well-placed and realistic were the education priorities of the NDP, which was released in 2012? Have developments since then shifted what can or should be done? While the paper focusses on the education sector as a whole, the focus on basic education is somewhat stronger, given that a separate paper deals specifically with selected post-school topics.The paper is the outcome of discussions with selected National Planning Commissioners, and other relevant experts and stakeholders. It also presents some new data analysis, focussing on technical subjects in schools, as well as South Africa’s international standing with respect to secondary school completion and post-school qualifications.The paper concludes that the NDP’s coverage of education is good, and that with regard to the education sector, the plan still represents an excellent tool to guide the national policy debates and more detailed implementation plans, up to at least 2030, the time horizon of the NDP. Crucially, the paper does not conclude that there is a need to revise the education part of the NDP. There are elements which have become redundant, or which could have been explained better, but on the whole the NDP provides relevant guidance. The position of the paper is thus that instead of devoting effort to revising elements of the plan, efforts should rather be devoted to taking the NDP forward, in ways explained below.