Education
What technical, agricultural or other skills-focused schools currently exist in each of the Western Cape education districts, (b) how many (i) learners and (ii) teachers are at each of these schools in the (aa) 2024 and (bb) 2025 academic years, (c) what is his Department’s assessment of the demand for more technical, agricultural or skills-focused schools in the province and (d) what plans, if any, are in place to expand access to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) at school level across the province?
My department has informed me of the following:
(a) and (b) See Annexure 1.
(c) There is a demand for specialist technical and agricultural science skills in both the provincial and the national economy, to support economic growth in key industries.
We also see a high demand for vocational education through Schools of Skills, as the placement demand for these schools exceeds capacity.
(d) Given the demand for technical skills, we are including new technical high schools in our Rapid School Build programme. There is also significant room for optimisation and growth in our existing technical schools, to improve learning outcomes and increase the number of matriculants who can move into further education and training in these fields.
We are in the process of expanding access to vocational education by starting additional classes in public ordinary schools, so that they may also offer the School of Skills curriculum.
We plan to introduce additional Schools of Skills classes at the following schools in January 2026:
• Dysselsdorp Secondary (Eden and Central Karoo Education District)
• Plettenberg Secondary (Eden and Central Karoo Education District)
• Beaufort West Secondary (Eden and Central Karoo Education District)
• Greyton Primary (Overberg Education District)
• Noordhoek Primary (West Coast Education District)
