Blade Nzimande made the plea to employers while speaking at a Ministerial Summit on Strategic Industry Partnerships with TVET Colleges, currently underway at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on the 27th of July.
The two-day summit brings together the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector, government departments, non-governmental organizations, labour and businesses to discuss how to strengthen TVET colleges partnerships, particularly work-based learning.
“The National Development Plan (NDP) emphasizes the importance of workplace-based training in job creation and the need for TVET colleges to become preferred institutions for vocational education and training. It also stresses the role of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in supporting the development of relationships between educational institutions and employers,” said Nzimande.
The Minister reiterated his announcement (made back in March) that the Department of Higher Education aims to achieve more than 100,000 workplace-based learning opportunities for students.
He believes that the primary aim of these placements is to assist young people when entering the workplace, therefore combatting the staggering high amount of South African youths currently unemployed.
“The primary aim of placements is to assist the transition of our young people from learning to working,” said Nzimande.
Nzimande has stated on numerous platforms that TVET college principals should be aware that they are "not running TVET colleges unless they prioritize building partnerships within [the] industry."
The Minister has issued a directive that all TVET college principals should sign new performance agreements that include industry partnerships as one of their key performance indicators.
“As TVET college principals, you owe it to the youth and the country to manage student admissions with the end in mind and this call for the establishment of strategic partnerships with industry. It will indeed be a travesty of justice and a serious indictment on us, as leaders, if we were to allow our inaction to cause TVET colleges to become a dead-end for students,” explained the Minister.
TVET colleges focuses on providing students with vocational and occupational education and training to prepare them to become functional workers in a skilled trade.
One of the leaders’ core responsibilities is to break down barriers to opportunities by creating pathways for young people to access skills training programmes and workplace-based training, articulate into higher education, and pursue self-employment without any obstacles.
Meanwhile, Nzimande has asked the Department of Science and Innovation to assist by supporting innovation programmes and initiatives in TVET colleges, and the Department of Higher Education and Training to help in introducing entrepreneurship programmes in the country’s colleges.
He added that by 2030, TVET colleges must be strong differentiated institutions, offering a range of high-quality programmes preparing students for the world of work and entrepreneurship.
