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 for a valuable and practical choice for advancing their occupations.
The Deputy Minister was talking throughout an oversight visit into 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 inside the country.
The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, along with the Cape Peninsula {University of Technologies (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits targeted at assessing the condition of readiness of greater education institutions across the nation, ahead of your 2025 academic year.
In the course of the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to consider delight in acquiring artisan techniques as they offer good entrepreneurship possibilities.
"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," more info Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed concerns about student residences together with other amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the website establishment to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve the determined issues.
The Deputy Minister’s visit to the Western Cape, follows her recent visit to higher education institutions in the Free State tvet colleges open for late applications where she visited Goldfields TVET College and the Central University of Technology (CUT), at the Welkom campus.
Through 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 challenges confronted by the NSFAS was within the spotlight throughout the Free State leg of 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 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, click here 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.
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