5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has inspired learners to consider the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as being a useful and feasible substitute for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was speaking through an oversight visit on the post-school education and training (PSET) institutions from the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as important for job creation and youth skills development within the state.
The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, and also the Cape Peninsula {University of Technologies (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits directed at assessing the point out of readiness of better education institutions across the nation, ahead of the 2025 educational year.
Throughout the visit at West Coast College, she encouraged learners to get pride in buying artisan capabilities as they offer great entrepreneurship options.
"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, college students check here at CPUT expressed problems about student residences and also other services. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve the discovered troubles.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western Cape, follows her recent visit to higher education institutions in the Free website State where she visited Goldfields TVET College and the Central University of Technology (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
In the here visits, the Deputy Minister continues to be 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 issue of funding and administrative worries faced via the NSFAS was while in the spotlight during the Free State leg on the visits.
"NSFAS needs to get its act together, in order to ensure that student allowances read more 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 click here 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