5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has inspired learners to look at the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as being a precious and feasible different for advancing their professions.
The Deputy Minister was speaking for the duration of an oversight visit to the post-school education and training (PSET) institutions while in the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as very important for job creation and youth skills development during the country.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, as well as Cape Peninsula {University of Technological innovation (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed toward examining the condition of readiness of better education institutions across the nation, ahead from the 2025 educational year.
In the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to get satisfaction in acquiring artisan competencies as they provide fantastic entrepreneurship possibilities.
"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 issues about college student residences as well as other facilities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve the discovered difficulties.
The more info Deputy Minister’s sedibeng tvet college 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 vital senior officials from Higher Education and Training, and the National Student Financial Aid website Scheme (NSFAS).
The Deputy Minister’s dedicated Help Desk has also formed part of the delegation, assisting with all higher education related queries on each visit.
The difficulty of funding and administrative troubles confronted with the NSFAS was in the spotlight through the Free State leg in 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 website 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 institutions being the next on the list.
– here SAnews.gov.za