WINDHOEK - United Democratic Front of Namibia (UDF) leader Apius !Auchab has vowed to establish a skills development and vocational training agency, once elected into power. !Auchab is one of the presidential candidates contesting for election this month.
“Our current education system only focuses on academic excellence through science and technology while all fields are equally important for our national development,” he said.
He said there is a massive technical and vocational skills shortage in Namibia that mainly depends on foreign experts in this regard.
“We have to make our youth productively employed and gainfully engaged. We have to train and nurture our human resource. We have to use it to move our nation forward into the future,” he said.
Unfortunately, he said, initiatives taken by the Swapo-led government on this matter have sadly failed.
“UDF will implement recommendations made to meet the changing dynamics of the nation’s requirement aiming to make Namibia a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in technical field,” he said.
“We will focus on needs-based skill development and employability; making our youth employable even in the most sophisticated jobs.”
!Auchab says his government will be a government of the poor, marginalised and those left behind.
“Every Namibian has a right over everything that Namibia has. From this, he or she is free to have his or her own dreams. The Namibia of tomorrow can only be built on our people’s wishes, aspirations and dreams today,” he said.
He said the real test of the success of a development process lies in the happiness of the citizens of any country.
“The fruits of growth and development must reach the weakest, the most deprived and the remotest of our people,” said the UDF leader.
!Auchab said that with firm belief in the concept of participatory democracy, his government would uplift the poorest of the poor from extreme poverty.
“We will be reinforcing the natural resource base of the people to tide over natural calamities. We will be planning to gainfully employ rural poor in agriculture and allied activities,” he vowed.