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 for a worthwhile and feasible option for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was speaking all through an oversight visit into the post-school education and schooling (PSET) institutions in the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe described the TVET colleges as important for job creation and youth skills development inside the country.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, as well as Cape Peninsula {University of Engineering (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits directed at assessing the condition of readiness of bigger education institutions across the nation, in advance from the 2025 academic year.
In the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to get satisfaction in attaining artisan expertise as they supply wonderful entrepreneurship opportunities.
"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, read more AI [Artificial intelligence], and coding," Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed fears about college student residences as well as other amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily resolve the recognized difficulties.
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.
Through the visits, the Deputy Minister continues to be accompanied by essential senior officials 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 administrative issues faced via the NSFAS was during the spotlight website in the Free State leg with the here 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; read more learners need allowances to eat and to buy hygiene tvet college courses without matric 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.
– SAnews.gov.za