Department of Higher Education and Training says it the Community, Education and Training (CET) centres play an important role towards empowering adults who do not have formal education.

Each province has a CET centre responsible for the management of Community Learning Centres.

The Community Learning Centres have replaced what were previously known as ABET centres.

Higher Education Deputy Minister, Doctor Mimmy Gondwe, conducted an outreach program in Mokopane, Limpopo, regarding the importance of these centres.

Doctor Gondwe says these centres are important for rural development.

“It is through initiatives such as this one that we put the spotlight on community colleges. We encourage women that are at home, whether they are young or old, that there is hope for you at a community college regardless of whether you dropped out of school because you fell pregnant. I was doing a panel discussion with some of the young ladies who have actually emerged from the community college and one of them said that she had to drop out of school to look after her mom. However, the community college was a place she could turn to and be able to further her studies and graduate from a TVET. She is currently working,” says Gondwe.

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, @DrMimmyGondwe, is today at the Limpopo CET College’s Mageme Community Learning Centre in Sekgakgapeng, Mokopane where she will be leading the Department’s Women’s Month Event.#DHET#WomensDay2025 #RekaofelaBasadi pic.twitter.com/9A9dffTiEW

— HigherEducationZA (@HigherEduGovZA) August 11, 2025

Some women in Sekgakgapeng township say the centers have played an important role in re-shaping their futures. They say that these learning centers, which were previously known as ABET centres, have enabled them to gain knowledge and skills required in various industries.

The women say attending these centers has left them employable.

“The role that CET played in my personal journey was that I gained the standard of being a woman and I also got a chance to study at any TVET college that I wanted to study at. CET helped me to achieve my better future since I failed to achieve goals at an earlier age. CET is most important as we just learn the things that we know and there are other things that we learn learn that is different,” says one the women.