Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has called on matriculants not only to focus on universities for tertiary education but also to consider TVET colleges.
Motshekga was addressing learners at the re-opening of the Kgatoentle Secondary School in Ga-Rankuwa north of Pretoria to monitor the re-opening of schools for the new academic year.
She says the growth of the country’s economy depends on technical skills that can be obtained in colleges.
Motshekga is expected to announce matric results on Thursday evening. The Minister says there’s a lot of employment potential and entrepreneurial opportunities in the technical sector.
“We … [want] you to take those vocational and technical skills, so that the things we want to do as a [country], you are able to do them for us. That’s why we are working very hard with Umalusi and higher education to diversify the skills of the country.
“When we announce [matric] results tomorrow, you will also be aware that there are schools which have written some our vocational courses.”
Results system
She says she’s happy that the results system is stable this year, and that it will help them make improvements.
“We are releasing tomorrow. But for me where I sit having received the initial results, they are still being verified. The system is stabilising because for me the biggest fear is when you have a system that today you are at 30, tomorrow 50, 100. So it does show that there’s something wrong. When the system is stable we are able to see where the weak points are and the things we need to strengthen.”
