RUNDU – The Rundu business community was chastised for not attending a consultative meeting called by the principal of the Rundu Vocational Training College Eric Tjandja last week Friday to discuss vocational training and education.
According to Tjandja it is the business people who have been complaining about the quality of graduates of vocational training centres. “We sent out a lot of invites to the business community, so this poor turnout is a really big disappointment. We hoped to engage them on how best we can conduct our activities based on their input,” said Tjandja, but added that the training institution would continue engaging the business community to ensure that vocational education is improved. The primary aim of the meeting was to seek inputs from the community regarding the training offered by the RVTC.
The meeting proceeded despite the poor turnout. The Chief Regional Officer in the Kavango Regional Council, Sebastian Kantema, urged vocational training centres around the country to produce graduates who will be job creators instead of job seekers. “No government can ever employ all its people, therefore as RVTC you must ensure that those who come here for training must be valuable so that they can create their own jobs,” said Kantema. Skills training is an important aspect for the growth of the country’s economy said Kantema. “We can have the industry and resources, but without skills we will not reach Vision 2030.” He further called on Namibians to do away with the stigma attached to vocational training.
“We must do away with this stigma, we cannot continue to think that vocational training is inferior,” he said. Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the Rundu Town Council, Romanus Haironga, lauded the RVTC for producing well-trained and qualified artisans. “I can say that the RVTC [is] doing a great job because all of your trainees who come to the town council for their job attachments are performing exceptionally well, whether they are plumbers or office administrators. Their attitude towards the tasks delegated to them is encouraging,” he said.
By Mathias Haufiku