The Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Buti Manamela launched TVET Month at West Coast TVET College in Malmesbury on Tuesday 3 August.
“During this month, all the 50 public TVET colleges embark on various activities,” he said, “including having direct engagement with the young people and employers/industry, with the aim of profiling TVET colleges and their programme offering.
“The month of August is also a special one in the history of our nation, as it is the month in which we celebrate the contribution and sacrifices that women have made in the fight for freedom and democracy in our country.
“Inspired by the bravery and selflessness of the women of the 1950s, we as government aim to build a South Africa where young women will not be afraid to claim their space and assume their rightful place in society and owing to the discriminatory nature of past laws, there were certain careers that were dominated or reserved for men.
“Our investment is also informed by the need to create more employment for young people and ensure as many of them as possible adopt a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.”
Manamela said to help address all these challenges of youth development government is working towards repositioning TVET colleges as centres for skills development.
Today, he added, all this patriarchy is being challenged by women who are taking up powerful spaces in such trades and technical vocations as construction, engineering, welding, fitting, and turning and the days of patriarchy are progressively becoming a thing of the past.
The deputy minister said his department travelled around the country going to high schools, helping the young people appreciate the importance of TVET colleges for both their personal development and that of the country.
Nowadays it is a privilege to study at a TVET college as it opens doors of employment because students are offered an 18 month experiential learning programme provided by the government in collaboration with the Sector Education and Training Education Authorities (Setas).
Manamela said to date, there are over 2,5 million beneficiaries that have been assisted by Government through the NSFAS bursaries and scholarships offered by various Setas.
In 2018 the department introduced a programme called PLP (pre-vocational learning programme), which is a foundational programme offered to students who do not meet the requirements for a certain course in TVET colleges the deputy minister concluded.
