Health to focus on nursing colleges

By Khanyisa Tabata
30 September 2009

The Department of Health is to focus more energy on revitalising nursing colleges and creating a vibrant nursing education and training system.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said strengthening colleges was the next focus for his department and discussions with the Department of Higher Education and Training were at an advanced stage.

The two departments have begun a project to assess what exists in the system, where its strengths lie and what the weaknesses are in terms of teaching and learning resources.

Dr Motsoaledi explained that through this process, the departments would guide and build a national nursing college system which responds to the needs of their system, whether in producing the numbers they want and assisting learners especially from poor backgrounds to complete their studies at colleges.

According to reports, Motsoaledi said the department had also agreed with the Department of Higher Education and Training on the need for a diversified nursing education and training system, cutting across higher education and further education programmatic levels in the National Qualifications Framework.

However, the minister warned that this had to be done in partnership with other sections of the schooling system, post-compulsory schooling system and the higher education system.