5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has inspired learners to think about the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as a important and feasible substitute for advancing their professions.
The Deputy Minister was speaking for the duration of an oversight visit towards the post-school education and schooling (PSET) institutions inside the Western Cape this 7 days.
Gondwe described the TVET colleges as critical for job creation and youth skills development in the nation.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, as well as the Cape Peninsula {University of Technology (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits geared toward evaluating the state of readiness of larger education institutions across the nation, in advance with the 2025 educational year.
In the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to take pride in attaining artisan abilities as they offer 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 get more info CPUT expressed problems about student residences along with other facilities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily take care of the determined challenges.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western Cape, follows her recent visit read more 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 become accompanied by critical western tvet college 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 website worries faced by the NSFAS was while in the spotlight throughout the Free State leg of your 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 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 tvet colleges open to continue in other provinces, with North West higher education institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za