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 to be a useful and feasible alternate for advancing their careers.
The Deputy Minister was speaking for the duration of an oversight visit into the post-school education and coaching (PSET) establishments during the Western Cape this week.
Gondwe described the TVET colleges as critical for job creation and youth skills development during the country.
The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, as well as the Cape Peninsula {University of Engineering (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.
Gondwe's visits aimed toward evaluating the condition of readiness of better education institutions across the nation, forward on the 2025 educational year.
Over the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to consider pride in attaining artisan competencies as they provide great entrepreneurship possibilities.
"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 get more info coding," Gondwe said.
At the second part of the visit, students at CPUT expressed fears about student residences along with other facilities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to work with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve 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 here the Welkom check here campus.
In the course of the visits, the Deputy Minister is accompanied by vital 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 check here all higher education related queries on each visit.
The difficulty of funding and administrative problems confronted by the NSFAS was inside the spotlight in the Free 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 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 establish the state of readiness for the 2025 academic year.
The Deputy Minister's oversight website is expected to continue in other provinces, with North West higher education institutions being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za