This was part of an agreement between government and the private sector which aims to widen access to post-school education and training for the youth, Vuyelwa Qinga said.
Qinga said the department had partnered with the National Treasury, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), and a number of municipalities to train, coach and provide learnerships for mid-level financial administrators in municipalities.
“This will directly help in dealing with the shortage of skills in these municipalities. We are funding this initiative with over R70-million over the next three years,” she said.
In other initiatives, the department said money made available to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme had more than doubled over the past two years, reaching R6-billion.
Qinga said that in 2010 R200-million had been available to students who had completed their studies but could not get their certificates because of outstanding fees.
The students were expected to repay the money once they had found jobs.
