The National Certificate Vocational (NCV) qualification offered by TVET colleges is a three-year course targeted at learners who left school at grade 9, 10 or 11 with a school leaving certificate. The NCV is a vocational alternative to a matric certificate.

The government believes the low percentage of people who graduate within the prescribed three years (or “throughput”) is driven by the fact that most people who enrol in the programme already have a matric certificate, essentially “repeating” a qualification they already have.

In 2024, Nobuhle Nkabane, then higher education minister, told Parliament that matriculants, often those with low NSC results, enrol in the NCV programme so that they can receive NSFAS funding while they await other education or job opportunities.

It is not a bad thing in principle for the government to be offering a form of income to young people, together with training.

It does mean, however, that the NCV programme is under pressure, impeding its ability to do what it was intended for, which is to provide vocational training to people who do not complete matric.

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