5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to look at the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as being a valuable and feasible alternative for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was speaking in the course of an oversight visit towards the post-school education and schooling (PSET) establishments inside the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as critical for job creation and youth skills development during the region.
The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, as well as the Cape Peninsula {University of Technologies (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits geared toward assessing the point out of readiness of higher education institutions across the nation, in advance on the 2025 academic year.
Through the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to get pride in buying artisan abilities as they provide good 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, AI [Artificial intelligence], and coding," Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, more info students at CPUT expressed problems about college student residences together with other facilities. The Deputy Minister directed the institution to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve the determined 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 here University of Technology (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
In the course of the visits, the Deputy Minister has actually been accompanied by vital 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 administrative worries confronted by the NSFAS was within the spotlight through the Free click here State leg from the 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 read more 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 website 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