5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has inspired learners to take into account the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as a important and feasible option for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was speaking through an oversight visit towards the post-school education and schooling (PSET) institutions inside the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as important for job creation and youth skills development in the region.
The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, plus the Cape Peninsula {University of Technological innovation (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits targeted at assessing the condition of readiness of increased education institutions across the nation, ahead of the 2025 academic year.
In the course of the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to choose satisfaction in acquiring artisan expertise as they offer fantastic entrepreneurship options.
"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 western tvet college the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed problems about student residences and other amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the institution to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily check here resolve the discovered 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.
In the visits, the Deputy Minister has been accompanied by vital 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 all higher education related queries on each visit.
The problem of funding and administrative problems faced via the NSFAS was from the spotlight through the Free State leg from the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act together, in order to ensure that student allowances are paid on time motheo tvet college 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 Nkabane at the special meeting of the Post Education and Training sector held in January 2025, to establish more info the state of readiness for the 2025 academic year.
The Deputy Minister's oversight website is expected to continue in other provinces, with North West higher education institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za