2015-03-16Staff Report 2 WINDHOEK - About 50 Namibian students left for studies at the Loudima Institute for Technical and Vocational Training in the Republic of Congo over the weekend. Last October, the Ministry of Education invited applications for study opportunities at Loudima Institute after President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his Congolese counterpart, Denis Sassou Nguesso, inaugurated it. At the opening, Loudima Institute for Technical and Vocational Training was hailed as a symbol of solidarity, friendship and commitment between the people of the Republic of Congo and the Republic of Namibia. The chief public relations officer in the Ministry of Education, Johanna Absalom, said the application process for candidates to Loudima has been finalised and candidates departed on Saturday. Loudima Institute for Technical and Vocational Training was established with the aim to create a cadre of graduates with competencies and skills in line with national and international standards in order to meet the demands of industry - locally and internationally. The development and rehabilitation of the institute culminates from an agreement signed between the two governments in July 2007. The governments of Namibia and Congo signed an agreement to create the Loudima Institute for Technical and Vocational Training - following a decision by the two Heads of State, Sassou Nguesso and Pohamba - to perpetuate the historical relations of the former Loudima Technical Secondary School site under South West Africa People Organisation (Swapo), and to develop a multi-faceted co-operation mutually beneficial to the two states. The agreement includes, inter-alia, the rehabilitation of the old site, which had been used as a training centre of scientific technological and professional elite of the executives of Swapo. The revamped Loudima Institute for Technical and Vocational Training boasts 99 buildings - 79 rehabilitated buildings and 23 new buildings. The state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure include, among others, boarding facilities, teachers’ houses, clinic, classrooms, teaching and training infrastructure (workshops and laboratories), sewerage system, administrative facilities, office block for personnel and an area for poultry, piggery, and animal husbandry. 2015-03-16Staff Report 2
