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 as being a valuable and feasible option for advancing their professions.

The Deputy Minister was speaking through an oversight visit for the post-school education and coaching (PSET) establishments in the Western Cape this week.

Gondwe explained the TVET colleges as crucial for job creation and youth skills development while in the region.

The Deputy Minister frequented the West Coast College Vredenburg Campus, and the Cape Peninsula {University of Technology (CPUT) Bellville Campus in Cape Town.

Gondwe's visits geared toward evaluating the condition of readiness of bigger education institutions across the country, ahead on the 2025 educational year.

In the visit at West Coast College, she inspired learners to take pride in obtaining artisan expertise as they provide 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 intelligence], and coding," Gondwe said.

At the second part of the visit, college students at CPUT expressed problems about college student residences together with other amenities. The Deputy Minister directed the establishment to operate with the Student Representative Council (SRC), to speedily solve the recognized 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 click here course of the visits, the Deputy Minister is accompanied by important senior officers from Higher Education and Training, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The tvet colleges open 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 issues faced via the NSFAS was from the spotlight in the course of 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 tvet college courses without matric important for their sense of wellbeing and dignity," get more info Gondwe said.

Gondwe embarked on the state of readiness visits following a plan of action, more info 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