Mwanza, May 27, 2011- Government has hailed Technical and Vocational Skills Training for Orphans, Vulnerable and Affected Youths (TVST-OVAY) saying the project, which is being implemented by Technical Entrepreneurship and Vocational Education Training Authority (TEVETA), is achieving its purpose of empowering the youths to become self reliant. 

To this effect, Principal Secretary Responsible for Malawi Universities Development Programme Dr MacPhail Magwira has since called upon stakeholders in the public as well as the private sector including the donor community to collaborate closely with government in order to increase support to the TEVET sector so that it remains instrumental to the social and economic development of the country.

Lilongwe, May 11, 2011-Institutions involved in the Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region should collaborate and exchange information in various specialised areas in order to enhance skills development in the region, Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) Board Chairperson, Yvonne Rampa has said.

Speaking last Friday at a farewell dinner  which marked the end of their three day visit to Malawi, Rampa said the Technical Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA) and BOTA have similar mission of  equipping the nation with various skills  hence the need to exchange information and expertise. 

“Our visit to Malawi has been an eye opener because we have learnt how our colleagues are implementing their programmes and the collaboration that exist between government and TEVETA  as well as the support that the private sector is rendering to TEVETA.  I do believe that apart from improving the implementation of our programmes such visits are going to augment our relationship,” said Rampa.

A school principle and staff members are crammed in one small dilapidated office somewhere close to a market place. Students are squeezed in a tiny room with no proper ventilation system and greeted by street vendor noise throughout their learning time in classes.

Toilets are in a poor state posing an imminent danger for an outbreak of water borne diseases. In some institutions trainers have questionable qualifications.

This is the state of most privately owned technical and vocational training institutions in the country that have sprouted in numbers to meet growing demand for tertiary education.

The institutions’ bottom line is to make quick profits whatever the means. But it is no longer business as usual for tertiary training institutions.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through its regulatory authority, the Technical, Entrepreneurial and Technical Education and Training Authority (Teveta) closed over 50 illegal training institutions in a three month campaign between August and October.

Kamuzu Academy management got puzzled that their technicians had no answers to the piling of dozens of liquid crystal display (LCD) computers or flat screens gathering cobwebs in the workshop.

Modern technology had eluded the electricians. As a result the technicians simply dumped any partly damaged flat screen in the workshop turning it into a resemblance of a museum.

However, in the books the computers had many more years to go before they lose their value. To solve this problem, Kamuzu Academy management decided to send its Chief Technician for Electronics, Dan Yobe Thunga, for training to acquire the needed knowledge in modern flat screens to resuscitate the partly damaged computers.

Thunga is now back in his workshop just a week after attending a five-day course on servicing electronic equipment in Lilongwe organised by the Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA) through its private Sector Training programme.

“I needed to understand this technology to be able to repair these flat screens. The course was really beneficial,” says Thunga from his base in Kasungu.

Gaborone, Botswana, March 4, 2011-Sustainable funding and financing of the Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVET) system is important if Malawi is to have  skilled and competitive workforce in the SADC region, said TEVET Authority Executive Director, Yusuf Alide.

Speaking in an interview yesterday on the sidelines of the Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) 10th Anniversary Celebrations Conference in Gaborone, Botswana, Alide said for Malawi to become an exporting country, it must have skilled and competitive workforce which could, among others, produce quality products that are competitive at the international market.

He said it was the reason why there should be sustainable funding for the implementation of a TEVET system so that the country has a skilled workforce.
The executive director said it was, therefore, pleasing to note that more companies were now becoming levy compliant due to what he said was increasing understanding on the use and value of levy and the legal requirements.