5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to think about the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as a precious and viable choice for advancing their professions.
The Deputy Minister was talking throughout an oversight visit into the post-school education and coaching (PSET) institutions in the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as crucial for job creation and youth skills development inside the region.
The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, and also the Cape Peninsula {University of Technology (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits geared toward assessing the condition of readiness of increased education institutions across the nation, forward on the 2025 educational year.
Over the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to choose delight in attaining artisan capabilities as they provide excellent entrepreneurship chances.
"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, students at CPUT expressed issues about student residences and other amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment website to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily resolve the identified challenges.
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.
In the visits, the Deputy Minister has actually been accompanied by critical 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 issue of funding and administrative worries confronted through the NSFAS was in the spotlight in the Free State leg on the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act together, more info 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 esayidi tvet college a plan of action, announced by Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane at the special get more info 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 more info list.
– SAnews.gov.za