Swapo vice presidential hopeful Pohamba Shifeta said if Namibia wants to capitalise on green hydrogen and the discovery of gas and oil, the country will need more people with technical know-how. 

“People think vocational education is useless. Vocational education is very important. We must put more emphasis. We can do it within five years to ensure every constituency has a vocational training centre well equipped so we train people.  Social scientists are just there to write papers, but if you want to industrialise, let us emphasise vocational education,” he sustained.

Namibia is aiming to become a green hydrogen superpower in the coming decade by positioning itself as a leader in emerging markets and an international exporter of green hydrogen. 

In an interview with New Era about how he plans to tackle youth unemployment, Shifeta stressed the importance of vocational education, which is a crucial component in the successful implementation of green hydrogen plans. 

According to him, technical skills cannot be overemphasised in every nation that aims to industrialise. 

 “In fact, there will be 100 000s of jobs that will be created within the coming 10 years or so. Vocational education only needs instructions to understand, read and write. People get bored with academic work, but if you give them vocational education, then you won’t go wrong,” Shifeta remarked. 

Green hydrogen will be an important source of foreign investment and very important for the country’s energy security and transition. 

The government plans to use it extensively to decarbonize its own economy.  

Namibia has the potential to offer low-cost green hydrogen production owing to its abundance of solar and wind resources. 

As it stands, many young people want to go to academic institutions and shunning vocational training centres. 

Therefore, Shifeta said people with technical know-how are few, while academic institutions are full of students who graduate and end up jobless. 

Equally, he said, many people get bored with academic work, but if you give them vocational education, they will progress.

“Academic fields are full. You become a lawyer, but how many admitted lawyers are on the streets? Even people who did accounting and medicine are on the street, even doctors are jobless. The market is saturated. We need to do skills auditing to redirect career paths for our young people to determine which field is to select. People think when you are a lawyer, you make money, but not anymore, it is very difficult because people are many in the market,” he mentioned.

Shifeta said Namibia would have to apply science for job creation to tackle youth unemployment. 

“We need to train people in digital technology. We need to redirect our curriculum and career paths,” he recommends. 

He advised young people should study relevant fields such as economics, computer engineering, and vocational education. 

The environment minister stressed technical education should be offered in schools from the primary level so young people are taught how to do things by hands up to the secondary phase.

He believes this will help to identify the potential and skills of these young people. 

–anakale@nepc.com.na