Oshakati
The Minister of Youth, Sport and National Service, Jerry Ekandjo has assured young people in the Oshana Region that his ministry is going to build pre-fabricated halls in each constituency, to ensure young people can acquire vocational skills close to home.
He was speaking on Wednesday during a visit to the region, where he took the time to listen to the opinions of young people.
Ekandjo noted that currently there are only two vocational training centres in the country that provide training and these can only absorb a very limited number of trainees from each constituency.
If the ministry‘s plan of building vocational training centres in each of the 121 constituencies countrywide comes off the ground, job-related training for young people in the various regions will receive a much-needed boost, he said.
He said training in various trades would be offered at these centres to maximise vocational skills in the country and that this would help in alleviating poverty and unemployment among the youth.
The youth minister said they plan to build pre-fabricated halls at every constituency office in all constituencies in the country, where young people can be trained, including those who dropped out of school and those who failed grades 10 and 12.
Ekandjo also noted that currently there are youth centres only Berg Aukas and //Gams, that can take in between 100 and 300 trainees per year.
He said although the qualifications offered at the //Gams youth centre are not currently recognised by the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), he has approached the NQA to recognise the qualifications offered by the centre to enable the people trained there to find jobs.
“Young people will no longer need to travel long distances [from home] to gain knowledge and skills; they are going to be trained in their villages. So that no youth will be left out without skills,” Ekandjo said.
Young people present suggested that multi-purpose centres should also be built, but Ekandjo insisted that priority would be given to vocational training centres.
He further clarified that he has already given instructions to the Permanent Secretary in his ministry to get quotations for the construction of pre-fabricated buildings in each of the 121 constituencies.
“We will train them [youths] and before they graduate, the institution will put students with different skills together and help them register a company. When they graduate they will just go straight to run their company, instead of going to hunt for jobs,” Ekandjo explained.
He gave an example of a group of five plumbers, five electricians and five builders that can work together to start their own construction company and thus win government tenders on their own. He said the youth ministry would be able to assist young entrepreneurs with start-up capital.
However, Minister Ekandjo noted this would only happen once he has compiled a full report and presented it to Cabinet. This is expected to happen around September when Cabinet will discuss the financing of the proposed youth projects.