iLearn leads in skills empowerment

JOHANNESBURG - Dec. 3, 2013 - PRLog -- iLearn, a leading national specialist provider of ONSITE instructor-led and ONLINE elearning training methodologies, has taken note of the revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice, scheduled for inception in October 2014, and the importance attached to skills development.

Skills development is one of the three priority elements that form part of the Code. The others are ownership and Enterprise and Supplier Development (previously Preferential Procurement and Enterprise Development)

According to the proposed changes, failure to meet the sub-minimums in each of the three priority elements introduced will result in a deduction of 1 level on the scoreboard.

The new scorecard governing the acquisition and application of B-BBEE status levels provides for a revised weighting of 20 points linked to Skills Development.

There is a sub-minimum threshold of 40% of the total weighting points for this priority element.

Amongst the general principles of Skills Development are:

To allow measured entities to contribute to the achievement of South Africa’s economic growth and social development goals by developing skills that will enrich the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
Promote the development of an industrial skills base in critical sectors of production and value-added manufacturing, which are largely labour intensive industries.
Strengthen the skills and human resource base by encouraging the support of skills development initiatives with an emphasis on skills development and career-pathing for all working people in order to support employment creation.
International training will qualify if it meets the South African Qualification Authority requirements for recognition
6% leviable payroll spend includes external training expenditure for unemployed black people
The calculation will be race and gender specific as per Employment Equity

In terms of the scoring requirements for Skills Development, the amended Codes make allowance for a 6% weighting or 8 points equivalent to skills development spend on learning programmes for black people as a percent of leviable payroll, of 0.3% or 4 points on skill development spend on black disabled employees, of 2.5% or 4 points on the number of black people participating in Learnerships, apprenticeships and internships as a percentage of total employees and 2.5% or 4 points on the number of unemployed black people on learnerships, apprenticeships and internships as a percentage of all employees, and of 100% or 5 points for the number of people absorbed by industry post-learnership.

Richard Rayne, Managing Director of iLearn, says that as an established operator within the technology-driven digital education space, the Company has kept a close eye on developments pertaining to B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice. He suggests that the stringent scoring criteria reaffirms the level of importance attached to Skills Development.

In order to continue to build on- and deliver its value proposition, the Company has maintained a steady empowerment profile and scorecard.

Its empowerment partner, Siyakha Consulting, will help ensure that iLearn retains this status going forward.

Siyakha Consulting is an established and respected transformation consulting firm with expertise in tailor made and solution based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Advisory Services.

The alliance is expected to add measurable value to clients, partners and customers going forward.

According to the Government Gazette, 11 October 2013: Measurement of skills development indicators is calculated according to Formula 1.