TVET college SRC’s gather at GS College for policy conference
The SRCs officially accepted the call of the fees must fall campaign come next year and will mobilise masses to achieve such.
Gert Sibande TVET College, Ermelo campus, hosted a three day policy conference for various Student Representative Council (SRC) members from around the country.
The SRCs gathered to discuss, among others, the standardisation of one constitution for all institutions as well as the recently released findings of the Fees Commission.
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A few resolutions came out of the conference with members rejecting the fees commission’s report in its entirety as they say it seeks to divide higher education at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges on the one hand with universities on the other hand.
The SRCs officially accepted the call of the fees must fall campaign come next year and will mobilise masses to achieve such.
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Another resolution was the need to speed up the call for radical economic transformation in higher institutions of learning.
“All means of income by the institutions must pass through skilled students to form part of the workforce related to new buildings, catering, and tender-related work,” said Mr Siyabonga Genius Shabalala, president of Ermelo campus.
The long standing issue of the constitution was discussed with the members in agreement to move to a standardised constitution for all colleges to closely safeguard the interests of students.
Another resolution was the need for state of the art infrastructure that will speak to the demands of industry.
“We need the industry to absorb all TVET colleges and plan to embark on this journey after the third National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the South African Further Education and Training Student Association (SAFETSA) in May next year.”
The conference resolved that TVET colleges must exist in townships in the form of skills centres that speaks to the geographical needs of that particular area.
“This can be achieved with the standardisation of the constitution.”
