The Tata Steel KZN (TSKZN) Learnership Programme in South Africa is a good example of the Tata group's commitment to the community. Created to address the issue of skill shortage in the uMhlathuze district as well as provide a feedstock of process operators and artisans for the TSKZN plant in South Africa, the programme focuses on imparting training and skills to local unemployed students with basic education and no work experience, thus enabling them to enter the work force. To date, the TSKZN Learnership Programme has produced two batches of graduates, of whom 49 have been employed as operators with Tata Steel.

Tata Africa and TSKZN together celebrated the 2010 TSKZN Learnership Programme graduation ceremony in Richard’s Bay, South Africa recently. During the ceremony, Raman Dhawan, MD, Tata Africa Holdings, congratulated the students and encouraged them to continue to strive for success, saying: "Education has no age or capacity limit and it is undeniably the most valuable asset one can possess’’. He went on to praise the TSKZN initiative for being in line with the Tata group’s trusteeship concept — in essence, what comes from the people goes back to the people.

Commenting on the TSKZN team's success in the programme, Somdeb Banerjee, MD, TSKZN, said: “We, as a company, must raise our own champions. With the help of these programmes, Tata will enable our employees to become the future management of the company.”

The vision
In an effort to empower local youth by imparting training in critical skills, the management of TSKZN embarked on a learnership and apprenticeship training programme that could counter the problem of skills shortage in South Africa. At the end of the programme, some of the participants could be assimilated into TSKZN, while others would have the option of applying to other companies for jobs.

An advertisement in the local newspaper announcing the learnership / apprenticeship programmes attracted more than 4,000 applications. The minimum requirement for the applicants was tenth grade qualification with mathematics and science, unemployment, and residence within the uMhlathuze municipality.

Hands-on learning
The first training batch commenced in October 2006 and comprised 34 learners, of whom nine were female. At the time, the chrome plant was still in the construction phase; Qinisile Motlomelo, head, HR operations, TSKZN, and coordinator of the learnership programme, and Izzy Mashinini, production superintendent, TSKZN plant, organised site tours for learners for them to gain insights into the development. They were also sent to Mogale Alloys, situated to the north-west of Johannesburg, where they were given their first opportunity to see how the process worked in real time.

After the learners had successfully completed their practicals, they were further assessed on the basis of their class marks, skills gained and overall attitude towards their work. Subsequently, out of 34 learners, 22 were given permanent employment. Each learner was interviewed personally to guage their understanding of the complete operation — from the raw material stage to production of the final product, namely chrome. Learners were also asked their opinion on which aspect of production was best suited to them. The superintendent then assigned roles within the company based on his assessment of their understanding of the operations. While some learners were hired as furnace operators (level four), others went on to become crane drivers (level three) and tap floor operators (level three).

Training for the second batch started in August 2007. These learners completed training much faster than the first batch as the plant was already operational, allowing them to complete the theoretical and practical aspects of training at the same time. In October–November 2008, they were assessed on site, under the supervision of training provider and had their portfolios moderated by MERSETA. Twenty-seven learners were hired permanently as of January 1, 2010.

The third batch of 30 learners began their training in March 2010.

Apprentice artisans
The apprenticeship programme at TSKZN has also been considerably successful with all apprentices qualifying as artisans as of December 2009. The batch is currently working as junior artisans to gain more experience. When the three-year apprenticeship programme first started, it comprised only eight apprentices, of whom four were women. All the apprentices have qualified in the mechanical and electrical fields. The second batch of 10 apprentices — four women and six men — commenced training in 2008 and will appear for their trade tests towards the end of 2010.

Together, the learnship and apprenticeship programmes are making a slow but steady impact on the local community by improving employment prospects for unemployed youth.