5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has inspired learners to evaluate the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to be a valuable and feasible different for advancing their careers.
The Deputy Minister was talking in the course of an oversight visit to your post-school education and education (PSET) institutions inside the Western Cape this 7 days.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as vital for job creation and youth skills development while in the state.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, plus the Cape Peninsula {University of Technological know-how (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed toward evaluating the condition of readiness of increased education institutions across the nation, forward on the 2025 academic year.
During the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to just take satisfaction in attaining artisan capabilities as they provide wonderful entrepreneurship alternatives.
"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 the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed fears about college student residences and various amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily take care of the identified concerns.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western Cape, follows her recent visit to higher education institutions in the Free State where she esayidi tvet college visited Goldfields TVET College and the Central University of Technology (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
During the visits, the Deputy Minister has long been accompanied by key more info 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 difficulty of funding and more info administrative worries faced through the NSFAS was in the spotlight over the Free State leg with the visits.
"NSFAS needs read more 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 coastal tvet college 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