BQA caught in the crossfire
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday February 25, 2016 17:19
The HRDC revealed this at a workshop it hosted for training providers at Marang Hotel on Tuesday. The objectives of the workshop were to articulate accreditation requirements, discuss the quality of the training interventions and discuss responsibilities of the training providers during training interventions. Some training providers accused their counterparts of being in the habit of awarding certificates to workers who have not completed courses they attended.
In some instances, they said some trainers would award certificates to people who attended two days of a course that took four days to complete. An accredited first aid practitioner said he even registered his complaint to Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) about such trainers but his plea fell on deaf ears. BQA’s main objectives are to provide for and maintain a National Credit and Qualifications Framework (NCQF) and to co-ordinate the education, training and skills development quality assurance system.
Although the workshop was organised by HRDC, BQA was caught in the crossfire as various speakers accused it of not taking its mandate seriously. The manager for the human resource development fund at HRDC Lebogang Mpinang promised the attendants that she would take their various allegations against BQA to the relevant authorities.
She added that although there may be some corrupt elements within the trainers’ cadre, it would be difficult to know and bring such people before the relevant authorities for action to be taken, if they work in cohorts with levy payers. Mpinang also promised to bring BQA on board in future workshops that they would address, throughout the country. In related matters, Mpinang asked the trainers why they sometimes charged levy payers differently for the same amount of work rendered.
In response, the training providers said the variance in charging levy payers is that some are multi-national companies that have more money while some are emerging companies with thin financial muscles.
The trainers added that some of these emerging companies plead with them not to charge them ‘exhorbitant prices’ hence the status quo. Efforts to contact BQA communications manager, Selwana Koppenhaver, did not bear fruit at the time of going to press.
She had not answered a questionnaire sent to her through fax that she had earlier on requested. HRDC was established as a vocational training fund in 2008. The purpose of the fund is to ensure partnership between the industry and government in skills development. In addition, the human resources development fund is based on a levy grant system where companies pay the training levy and are reimbursed training costs incurred for training their employees.