The Sierra Leone government has launched the long awaited national Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy.
Minister of Technical and Higher Education presided over the launching on Thursday, June 11, at the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC). At the same occasion, the government also launched the Sierra Leone Skills Development Project.
Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, cited studies crediting TVET for its role in impacting knowledge and skills and improving on individuals, communities, countries and the world at large.
Mr Swaray said the launching of the policy was a fulfilment of part of President Julius Maada Bio’s dream of attaining Human Capital Development, noting that not only will TVET help develop the middle man power of Sierra Leone, but it would also address the country’s unemployment problem.
The World Bank is a major funder of the process of developing the document.
A representative of the World Bank, Abu Kargbo, who is Operations Officer, Social Protection and Labour, assured the government of the institution’s commitment towards supporting the TVET project to attain its objectives, which is empowers the middle man power in the country.
According to the Mr Kargbo, the Bank provided $20 Million towards the project. He further disclosed that they were ready to give additional support in order to achieve the aims and objectives of TVET.
The Director of NCTVA, Mohamed Jalloh, said “the key to success is education but the master key to success is TEVET.” Jalloh noted that vocational skills training provides individuals with the necessary knowledge and skills to be meaningfully engaged or self-employed.
Launching the TVET Policy, the Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Professor Aiah A. Gbakima, praised the Ministry of Finance and World Bank for their role in the project.
“The skills development project cannot function well without a well-defined TVET Policy,” he said, referring to the second document lunched by the Finance Ministry on the same day.
These two documents, according to Professor Gbakima, would help change the lives of the average Sierra Leonean and also keep polytechnics alive in the country.
“We need to put our hands together and train our children so that they can be employed or self-employed” he said, adding that it’s extremely important that the youths are also trained to be engaged in something productive.
The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffah, said that President Bio had wanted to launch the two projects in grand style, but that due to the fight against COVID-19 and the strict compliance to the precautionary measures, he was unable to do so.
“You cannot address the issue of youth unemployment without developing their skills” Saffa said, adding that they would not be able to earn sustained income if their skills are not properly developed. “When they are trained, they can go for high income jobs or better still, be self-employed, he added.
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