5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to consider the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges being a useful and feasible alternate for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was speaking in the course of an oversight visit to the post-school education and education (PSET) establishments within the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as very important for job creation and youth skills development within the region.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, along with the Cape Peninsula {University of Engineering (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed at assessing the state of readiness of increased education institutions across the nation, in advance from the 2025 educational year.
In the course of the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to consider delight in attaining artisan capabilities as they supply great entrepreneurship chances.
"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, students at CPUT expressed issues about student residences along with other services. The Deputy Minister directed the institution to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily take care of the recognized issues.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western read more 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 get more info (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
During the visits, the Deputy Minister continues to be accompanied by key senior officers from Higher Education and Training, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The Deputy read more Minister’s dedicated Help Desk has also formed part of the delegation, assisting check here with all higher education related queries on each visit.
The problem of funding and administrative challenges faced from the NSFAS was in the spotlight over 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 here 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