TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Students trapped in a dysfunctional system as colleges fall apart
Xolisa Phillip argues technical and vocational colleges treated like second-class citizens deserve better
Technical and vocational education and training students are fed up with being treated like second-class citizens and want to be prioritised. But who’s listening to their cries and paying attention to the multiple grievances they have raised so they can be attended to? Seven colleges have been shut down, six others are not operating at full steam while the remainder, 37, are faced with a similar fate. Students have bemoaned the shambolic state of the colleges. The challenges are multifold, feeding into a vicious cycle that condemns many of the students to the poverty they expected to escape by enrolling at these institutions. The studies of students in the technical and vocational education and training sector are not adequately funded, many lecturers are poorly trained and most colleges lack the equipment needed to make training a success. This defeats the purpose of the colleges. When President Jacob Zuma split the department of education into basic education and higher education ...
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