Okakarara VTC graduates ‘half-baked’

INSTRUCTORS at the Okakarara Vocational Training Centre (OVTC) have told Education Minister David Namwandi that graduates they produce at the institution are ‘half-baked’.

The institution offers certificate courses in hospitality, hairdressing, carpentry, as well as the electrical and mechanical fields.

The instructors told Namwandi during a meeting on Monday that the material and financial support they receive from the National Training Authority (NTA) has been inadequate, resulting in learning and teaching being significantly compromised.

The NTA is currently managing all the vocational training centres in the country until such time that the transformation of VTCs is completed.

The OVTC has 50 employees and more than 600 students this year. One after another the instructors criticised what they called the low quality of education they are apparently forced to offer to students at the institution.

OVTC head Penson Mootu told the minister that the institution has no equipment with which to teach students practical aspects, which literally means they miss the point they were founded on.

Mootu said even the grants from the government, which are supposed to help pay the tuition fees for students at the OVTC this year have not yet been paid.

The OVTC’s hospitality instructor, Salomo Thomas said the daily teaching at the centre is often shortened, just to let the students go.

“The centre has no proper practical or technical equipment, yet student numbers are increasing every year. I am truly disappointed with this centre,” Thomas charged.

The mathematics instructor Brian Masona, said the whole learning and teaching process at the OVTC should be overhauled with the intention of improving it.

He said the system is not empowering students with the needed practical skills, which is supposed to be the key purpose of a vocational training institution in any country.

Namwandi asked senior officials from the NTA who were present at the meeting whether the instructors were telling him the truth and the officials confirmed that the instructors were not lying, because the NTA has no money to upgrade the OVTC to the level that it is supposed to be.

Namwandi then urged the NTA’s acting chief executive officer, Ester Anna Nghipondoka, who was also in the meeting, to see to it that the situation changes for the better as soon as possible.

“I am disheartened to hear these concerns. This centre is neglected. Go back to your offices and institute change to the centre,” Namwandi told Nghipondoka in front of the instructors.

The minister said the practical learning and teaching aspects at the OVTC should be strengthened, no matter what resources it would take.

Namwandi furthermore wished to see students from the OVTC graduating with technical knowledge that will enable them to start their own small companies and employ more semi-skilled Namibians.

“The purpose of having vocational training centres all over the country is to technically and practically train students the handiwork courses, not theories. Vocational training can be the real backbone of this country,” he said. Namwandi then toured the OVTC, accompanied by Otjozondjupa Regional Council chairperson Otto Ipinge; Okakarara Constituency Councillor Vetaruhe Kandorozu and the Otjozondjupa Regional Education Director, Faustina Caley.

He also visited the Okaepe Primary School in the Okakarara Constituency, and the Vooruit Primary School in Otjiwarongo.

The NTA was established by the Vocational Education and Training Act of 2008, Act no. 1 of 2008 to regulate the provision of vocational education, technical training and provision of funds to vocational training institutions by government.

– Nampa

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