Aletta Shikololo

WINDHOEK - In celebration of the success of Namibian scholars who benefited from the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme, the Indian high commission recently celebrated the annual ITEC day in Windhoek.

The event was graced by Indian High Commissioner to Namibia Prashant Agrawal, Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism Bernadette Jagger, and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Computing and Informatics at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) Alicia Peters, among other senior officials.

In its 55 years of existence, ITEC has grown to be one of India’s remarkable flagship programmes for development partnership, remarkable for its magnitude, geographical spread and the sheer range of topics and areas covered for training and capacity building in.

To meet the needs of the future, advanced courses in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, nano-technology, solar energy, forensics and climate change modelling are being organised in partnership with institutions of excellence like the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institute of Science. 

Speaking at the event, High Commissioner Agrawal said that the relationship between the two countries enabled them to extend their ties beyond historical and cultural ones, to technical and economic spheres.
“It is estimated that more than 1 200 officials from Namibia have been trained under the ITEC programme. They belong to a large number of ministries, regions, universities and institutions,” said the high commissioner, adding that women are more than half the number of trainees, and that there is a good representation of different regions of Namibia.

Besides sending officials and experts to India for training, the high commission also assists by providing training programmes in Namibia itself by fielding their experts in the country.
In partnership with Nust, ITEC established the centre of excellence in IT, which was described by Peters as a dream come true for the local institution.

ITEC alumni from Namibia shared their pleasant experiences on the nature of the courses they attended in India and how beneficial the training programme was.

All ITEC courses are fully funded scholarship programmes by the Indian government that bears the cost of international travel course fees, accommodation, books, medical expenses and also pays for all incidental expenses.