5th February 2025
Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, has encouraged learners to consider the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to be a worthwhile and practical option for advancing their occupations.

The Deputy Minister was talking in the course of an oversight visit on the post-school education and coaching (PSET) institutions within the Western Cape this week.

Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as very important for job creation and youth skills development in the nation.

The Deputy Minister visited the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, plus the Cape Peninsula {University of Engineering (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.

Gondwe's visits targeted at examining the point out of readiness of bigger education institutions across the country, ahead on the 2025 educational year.

Over the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to acquire pleasure in acquiring artisan competencies as they offer wonderful 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 read more intelligence], and coding," Gondwe said.

At the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed issues about college student residences and also other services. The Deputy Minister directed the institution to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily take care of the determined troubles.

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 crucial 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 difficulty of funding and administrative troubles faced from the NSFAS was during the spotlight over the Free State leg on 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 read more to buy hygiene products. This is important for their sense of wellbeing and dignity," Gondwe said.

Gondwe embarked on the more info 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 get 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 institutions click here being the next on the list.
– SAnews.gov.za