Community colleges get off the ground

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Pretoria – The 1st of April has seen the official establishment of nine Community Education and Training Colleges (CETCs), which will enable the merger of existing public adult learning centres into community colleges.

This follows last month’s approval of the establishment of nine CETCs by Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande.

The community colleges will cater for a population that is not integrated into the post-schooling environment.

Minister Nzimande has officially welcomed the staff from Adult Education and Training (AET) centres, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges and AET & TVET Units in Provincial Education Departments as they transfer to the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Approximately 38 000 employees joined the department on 1 April. The employees form part of the bedrock of TVET colleges and soon to be launched Community College systems.

Speaking at the welcoming ceremony held on Wednesday at the South West Gauteng TVET college Molapo Campus in Soweto, Minister Nzimande said the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training provides for the establishment of Community Education and Training Colleges that will primarily target youth and adults who did not complete school or never attended school.

“Enabling legislation was enacted in 2010, 2012 and 2013 to move Further Education and Training, and Adult Education and Training functions from a provincial to a national competency.

“In preparation and working towards 1 April 2015, a turnaround strategy for TVET colleges was developed, which encapsulated a number of initiatives to ensure that TVET colleges becomes the first option of choice for our youth,” Minister Nzimande said.

The process of identifying nine community colleges for piloting in 2015 has been completed. The community colleges will be located in all provinces, with each province having one.

The Minister said the necessary legislative framework, compliance with labour relations legislation and compliance with the budget transfer processes have been fulfilled to enable the transfer of the AET and TVET functions.

The department has also established task teams that will be available to respond to any eventualities related to the transfer of the AET and TVET function going forward.

Individuals are also invited to contact the department’s hotline on 0800 87 22 22 or send an email to functionshift@dhet.gov.za for any queries regarding the function shift. – SAnews.gov.za