‘Welcome home’ for Capricorn TVET students who represented Limpopo overseas
On 11 October at the Capricorn Central Office, 26 chemical plant operation students from the Seshego campus, 12 tourism and hospitality students from the Polokwane campus as well as one student who represented the country in Russia at the 2019 Water Technology Skill competition, were welcomed home with open arms.
POLOKWANE –Â Capricorn College for TVET had a welcome celebration for their students who represented the country overseas.
The students who completed the chemical plant operation programme were given the opportunity to attend water- related programmes in China, an opportunity that was afforded to them by EWSETA and Chinese Culture Programmes.
They left the country on 23 April last year and returned on 20 April this year. For the first four months, the students were at Yellow River Conservatory Technical Institute and they spent a further six months in industries doing Work Integrated Learning (WIL), of which two months were for writing exams which they all passed with flying colours.
The six hospitality and six tourism students were sent off with a dinner with the Deputy Minister of Higher Learning and Training, Buti Manamela before leaving the country on 16 October.
The programme, which aims to afford the students an opportunity to learn about the tourism and hospitality sector in China. Funded by CATHSETA, the students studied at Zhengzhou Tourism College in preparation for placement in various hotels in China. They returned to South Africa on 9 October. Taelo Tsietsi Mello, one of the students who was part of this programme, said that he had a lot of fun during his time in China and he learned a lot.
“In the beginning it was a bit of a culture shock and nerve-wrecking but after some time, you realise that apart from the language and culture, the two countries are not all that different,” he said.
Another student who flew the South African flag high is Thabiso Matlou who won the Water Technology Skills South Africa, which afforded him the opportunity to represent the country in the Water Technology Skill competition in Kazan, Russia. The competition took place from 19 to 27 August and he was the only student to make the cut.
Matlou shared that the experience was exciting but challenging because he was the only student to go up against industry professionals.
Lekau Mamabolo, Capricorn College for TVET principal, gave gratitude to the parents of the students for instilling discipline and thanked the lecturers for ensuring that the students were equipped for the experience abroad.
“I am grateful to the stakeholders for affording the students endless opportunities. This calibre of students that the college has is rare and I hope they will stay with us and share their experiences with their fellow students,” he said.
