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 being a precious and viable option for advancing their professions.
The Deputy Minister was speaking through an oversight visit into the post-school education and teaching (PSET) institutions within the Western Cape this 7 days.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as critical for job creation and youth skills development in the country.
The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, and also the Cape Peninsula {University of Engineering (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits targeted at examining the point out of readiness of greater education institutions across the country, forward on the 2025 educational year.
Over the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to acquire pleasure in attaining artisan skills as they supply good entrepreneurship prospects.
"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," here Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, students at CPUT expressed concerns about college student residences and also other facilities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily take care of the recognized troubles.
The Deputy Minister’s visit website 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.
Throughout the visits, the Deputy Minister has long been accompanied by essential 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 the delegation, assisting with tvet college courses all higher education related queries on each visit.
The issue of funding and administrative troubles confronted with the NSFAS was from the spotlight during the Free State leg from the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act together, in order to ensure that student allowances are paid on here 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 website 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 institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za