5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has inspired learners to look at the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to be a useful and practical option for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was talking all through an oversight visit on the post-school education and schooling (PSET) institutions inside the Western Cape this 7 days.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as essential for job creation and youth skills development from the state.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, along with the Cape Peninsula {University of Technological innovation (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits geared toward evaluating the condition of readiness of increased education institutions across the country, forward on the 2025 academic year.
In the course of the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to get delight in getting artisan techniques as they provide good entrepreneurship prospects.
"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 considerations about student residences as well as other amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily resolve the discovered concerns.
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 course of the visits, the Deputy Minister has become accompanied by important 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 read more related queries on each visit.
The difficulty of funding and administrative problems confronted with the NSFAS was inside the spotlight throughout the Free State leg with the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act together, in order to ensure that student allowances are paid on here time with no delays. Delays cause serious challenges for learners; learners check here 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 more info 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 get more info institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za