Ehlanzeni TVET College is proving to be a leader in tertiary education and training. This institution of higher learning and training officially launched the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Centre at Mlumati TVET College satellite in KaMhlushwa, Nkomazi on Thursday October 6.
Funded by the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP Seta) for TVET Colleges, this was the second successfully launched 4IR project in the country.
The principal, Elias Mbuyane, said he was happy that the work that started in 2020, was now bearing fruits.
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He also outlined plans to revolutionise teaching and learning at the college by recording lessons, so even when the lecturers are not in front of the students, teaching and learning can continue.
“This 4IR technology presents us an opportunity to do things and projects related to technology differently. We are going to be doing programmes that are related to the internet, robotics and 3D printing. We have a new management system. Linked with the 4IR is a recording studio to record lessons. Should there be for whatever reason an absence of a lecturer, we can use those recorded lessons here and elsewhere within our college. The beauty of it is that when a lecturer is presenting here, the lessons are also being presented to three or more different campuses at the same time.
This programme was not initially part of the 4IR, but we realised that it complemented it well, and we decided to go with it,” said Mbuyane.
The reason why they chose Mlumati Campus for this special project, was the fact that they wanted all their campuses to have something unique.
“We identified a centre that was becoming dilapidated. Because of this project, we had to focus our energies in revitalising this campus, and I am happy that in the end, we made it work,” Mbuyane said.
Delivering his keynote address, the MEC for education, Bonakele Majuba, said, “We urgently need to develop our capabilities in the areas of science, technology and innovation. We will soon establish a digital industrial revolution commission, which will include the private sector and civil society, to ensure that our country is in a position to seize the opportunities and manage the challenges of rapid advances in information and communication technology.”
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He said the drive towards the digital industrial revolution will be underpinned by the availability of efficient networks.
“This constructive action by the Department of Higher Education and Training and ETDP Seta has its basis on the conviction that the 4IR represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to each other. It is inevitable that, as with any revolution, it will effect change in desirable and undesirable ways. The 4IR is all about new solutions and new technologies that can provide new, better and faster solutions,” said Majuba.
“As a department, we support projects such as these. We are confident that Ehlanzeni TVET College will optimally utilise the infrastructure and training of lecturers that this project has delivered for the benefit of our students. We need students that will be able to compete with the best in the world. The Mpumalanga Department of Education, in line with the 4IR, has introduced a pilot project on coding and robotics starting with 17 schools for grades R-3 and 111 schools for Grade Seven. This will be incrementally introduced to other grades until Grade Nine in 2024. This centre, therefore, truly resonated with our current plan of action,” Majuba said.
