This year, the South African Social Security Agency confirmed that out of the 11.4 million applications it received, approximately 5% of the total applications were unemployed graduates.
The non-issuing of certificates is one of the obstacles that hamper unemployed graduates to take advantage of employment opportunities because they do need to prove that they have completed a qualification.
According to reports, in April 2017, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) released 233,000 outstanding National Certificate (Vocational) (NCV) out of a total of 236,000 certificates, some of which dated back 2007.
In a recent statement, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr. Blade Nzimande announced:
I am happy to indicate that to date, 99.94% of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College certificates for the previous certification backlog have been released to colleges for qualifying students after results were processed.
The department has shared that certificates for students are released to TVET colleges within 90 days after the release of results, for those students who meet certification requirements.
Nzimande has also explained that students who have written examinations over multiple examination periods to qualify for certification, are expected to apply for the combination of their results at the last examination centre where they wrote their examination.
The centre will in return submit the application to DHET for further processing. According to the department, students may also submit their enquiries on the eGOV portal, www.eservices.gov.za.
This is a step in the right direction for the department in removing backlogs in issuing TVET College certificates, as there are graduates who have waited for more than ten years for their certificates in the past.
