5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to think about the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges like a beneficial and practical alternate for advancing their professions.
The Deputy Minister was speaking through an oversight visit for the post-school education and schooling (PSET) institutions within the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe described the TVET colleges as essential for job creation and youth skills development while in the nation.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, plus the Cape Peninsula {University of Technological know-how (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed toward evaluating the point out of readiness of higher education institutions across the nation, ahead with the 2025 academic year.
In the course of the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to just take pleasure in acquiring artisan abilities as they provide excellent entrepreneurship options.
"I am very encouraged by what I'm seeing at TVET colleges, I believe they are the future of this country. TVETs are producing artisans with much needed skills [and] also offer opportunities for learners to acquire future skills, such as robotics, get more info AI [Artificial intelligence], and coding," Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, more info students at CPUT expressed worries about student residences and various services. The Deputy Minister directed the institution to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve the identified troubles.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western Cape, follows her recent visit to higher education institutions in the Free State where here she visited Goldfields TVET College and the Central University of Technology (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
In the visits, the Deputy Minister continues to be accompanied by crucial senior officers from Higher Education and Training, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The Deputy Minister’s dedicated Help Desk has also formed part of tvet colleges open for applications the delegation, assisting with all higher education related queries on each visit.
The difficulty of funding and administrative issues confronted with the NSFAS was inside the spotlight over the Free State leg on the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act together, in order to ensure that student allowances are paid on time with no delays. Delays cause serious challenges for learners; learners need allowances to eat and to buy hygiene products. This is important for their sense of wellbeing and dignity," Gondwe said.
Gondwe embarked on the state of readiness visits following a plan of action, announced by Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle here Nkabane at the special meeting of the Post Education and Training sector held in January 2025, to establish the state of readiness for the 2025 academic year.
The Deputy Minister's oversight is expected to continue in other provinces, with North West higher education institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za