5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to take into account the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges like a valuable and feasible alternate for advancing their careers.
The Deputy Minister was talking in the course of an oversight visit to the post-school education and schooling (PSET) institutions within the Western Cape this 7 days.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as vital for job creation and youth skills development in the place.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, as well as the Cape Peninsula {University of Technologies (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits geared toward assessing the point out of readiness of increased education institutions across the country, ahead of your 2025 academic year.
In the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to take pride in attaining artisan abilities as they offer excellent entrepreneurship alternatives.
"I'm 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 here CPUT expressed problems about college student residences and various services. The Deputy Minister directed the institution to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily resolve the discovered difficulties.
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.
Over the visits, the Deputy Minister has become accompanied by crucial senior officials 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 the delegation, assisting with all higher education related queries tvet colleges open for late applications on website each visit.
The difficulty of funding and administrative worries confronted through the NSFAS was in the spotlight in 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 get more info 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 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 more info institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za