The call for a skills revolution in South Africa will remain little more than a talking point unless learners are actively encouraged to enrol at TVET colleges and other post-school institutions.
This is according to Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube, who addressed the launch of the Artisan and Skills Development Centre at Elangeni TVET College in Inchanga, west of Durban, on Friday.
Dube-Ncube called for a renewed effort by government, communities, industry and education stakeholders to elevate the status of vocational education and ensure that skills development translates into meaningful economic opportunities.
“Yesterday [Thursday] at the career expo in Ndwendwe, while interacting with learners in basic education, I had a reckoning with the fact that Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges remain unattractive to our learners,” Dube-Ncube said.
The Deputy Minister said South Africa's economic future depends on building a strong skills pipeline aligned with the country's industrial, infrastructure and economic development needs.
She stressed that investment in skills development facilities must be matched by efforts to attract students and ensure institutions fulfil their intended mandate.
"We hold a responsibility to ensure that the money and infrastructural investment of institutions like these do not fall by the wayside. We need this TVET college to action its envisaged mandate, and it is in that hope that every TVET college in the country follows suit," the Deputy Minister said.
Dube-Ncube described the launch of the Artisan and Skills Development Centre as a significant step towards strengthening vocational training and expanding access to skills that are increasingly in demand in the modern economy.
She said TVET colleges should no longer be viewed as secondary institutions but as central pillars of South Africa's economic reconstruction and development agenda.
"Today's gathering must signal a shift in how we understand the role of TVET colleges within the Post-School Education and Training system. It should affirm that these institutions are not peripheral, nor secondary, but are in fact central to our national development agenda and industrial future." she said.
The Deputy Minister noted that South Africa is transitioning towards an economy driven by advanced manufacturing, logistics, renewable energy, digital transformation and infrastructure development.
In this environment, she said, TVET colleges have a critical role to play in producing the skilled workforce required to support economic growth and industrial competitiveness.
"TVET colleges are not simply training institutions. They are strategic economic enablers," she said.
Dube-Ncube said education and employment can no longer be treated as separate stages of development, arguing that learning must be directly linked to workplace readiness, productivity and innovation.
The new centre, she said, is expected to provide artisan training, workplace-based learning opportunities, entrepreneurship support, and industry-responsive technical education programmes.
"It represents a decisive shift from training for certification to training for production, employment and enterprise creation," she said.
The Deputy Minister also highlighted the importance of aligning training programmes with the economic realities of local communities.
She said the centre's location positions it to support economic activity and skills development in Inchanga, Hammarsdale, Ximba, Nyuswa and surrounding rural and peri-urban communities.
"We must be deliberate in aligning education provision with economic geography, ensuring that training institutions are embedded within growth corridors where skills demand is real, immediate and expanding," she said.
She called on industry partners to expand workplace placement opportunities, apprenticeships and graduate absorption programmes.
"Training without absorption does not complete the development cycle," she said. – SAnews.gov.za
