TVET STUDENTS TOYI-TOYI REGARDING CLARITY ABOUT IN-SERVICE TRAINING AND ISSUING OF DIPLOMAS

Anxious TVET students toyi-toyied to the Department of Higher Education and Training( DHET) offices in Tshwane on Tuesday to demand clarification regarding in-service traning and the awarding of diplomas by the DHET.

Their anxiety is based on the fact that the curriculum of the National Accredited and Technical Education Diploma ( NATED) which they have studied under, is being phased out and replaced by the Occupational Qualifications diploma.

The aggrieved students were supported in their protest march by community organisation called Amandla.Mobi.

Their petition contained signatures of 32 000 aggrieved students who studied under the NATED programme which is in the process of being discarded by the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Students also voice out their pain to department of higher education and training officials.

Amndla.Mobi’s leader Tebogo Malatji said the following:

“The NATED programme is about to be phased out, and we still do not know what will happen to students who have not yet secured in-service training as well as those who still do not have their diplomas, yet we have sent multiple emails to the Department of Higher Education, which have been ignored.”

Malatji said “we need to know what the department plans to do to ensure that NATED students receive their diplomas before NATED is completely phased out.”

The students want to force the leadership of the Department of Higher Education and Training authorities to address the delayed processing of their qualifications, which is preventing them from securing permanent employment and completing their in-service training.

Acting Chief Director of Technical and Vocational Education Training Thivhudziwi Vele received the memorandum of the toyi-toying students and promised that the DHET Minister Buti Manamela would respond to their demands in full at a media briefing scheduled for Thursday 11 May.

“The issues that you are raising are acknowledged and valid, and the petition you submitted on the 9 February 2026 was received by the DHET and I must say a response in this regard by the DHET was issued around 2 March 2026,” said Vele as he addressed the toyi-toying brigade upon receiving their memorandum.

“We will have to investigate as to who the response actually landed on, since you as the leadership of the students have apparently not received it,” he said.

He assured the students that the DHET has a data base of all students who need in-service training but that only students under the age of 35 will be supported in acquiring in-service training.

About 32 000 students are presently looking for in-service training but Vele said this number has been reduced by the DHET to 29 000 as several duplicates were found in the applications.