5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to evaluate the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as a precious and viable different for advancing their professions.
The Deputy Minister was talking during an oversight visit towards the post-school education and teaching (PSET) institutions inside the Western Cape this 7 days.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as critical for job creation and youth skills development while in the region.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, plus the Cape Peninsula {University of Technology (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed at evaluating the point out of readiness of greater education institutions across the country, in advance from the 2025 academic year.
In the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to consider satisfaction in obtaining artisan skills as they provide good entrepreneurship options.
"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 considerations about college student residences and other services. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily resolve the determined concerns.
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 is accompanied by vital senior officers from website 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 difficulty of funding and administrative difficulties faced from the NSFAS was from the spotlight throughout the Free State leg of the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act more info together, in order to ensure that website student allowances are paid on 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 check here 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 website 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