5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to look at the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges for a useful and practical alternative for advancing their careers.
The Deputy Minister was speaking throughout an oversight visit on the post-school education and training (PSET) institutions inside the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe described the TVET colleges as crucial for job creation and youth skills development within the nation.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, plus the Cape Peninsula {University of Engineering (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed toward assessing the state of readiness of larger education institutions across the country, ahead from the 2025 academic year.
Throughout the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to choose pleasure in buying artisan capabilities as they provide great entrepreneurship alternatives.
"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, AI [Artificial intelligence], and coding," Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed worries about student residences together with other facilities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily resolve the determined challenges.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western Cape, follows her recent visit to higher education institutions in the Free State where she visited Goldfields TVET College and the Central University of Technology (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
Through the visits, the Deputy Minister has been accompanied by crucial senior officers from Higher Education and Training, and the click here National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The click here Deputy Minister’s dedicated Help Desk has also formed part of the delegation, assisting with all higher education related queries on each visit.
The issue of funding and administrative worries faced through the NSFAS was within the spotlight in the course of the Free State leg of 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 click here 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 Nkabane at the special coastal tvet college meeting of the Post Education and Training sector held in here 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